My heart pounded.
“But this feels like uneven footing to start a real relationship on,” she finished.
Uneven footing. Because I tilted the ground. Because I moved too fast. Because I tried to solve it instead of standing beside her.
I could feel it now. The shift. I was losing her.
And for the first time in a long time, there is nothing I could purchase to stop it.
“What would make it even?” I asked quietly.
She shook her head. “I don’t know.”
That answer terrifies me more than divorce ever could.
“I need to think,” she said.
The words were careful.
I nod. I couldn’t do anything else. Forcing would only confirm her fear, and control would destroy this completely.
“Take the time you require,” I said evenly.
She studied my face for a long moment.
Then she turned and walked out of the office.
I didn’t follow. I remained standing in the middle of the room, hands at my sides, the weight of her uncertainty settling over me like a bitter winter.
I had dismantled companies.
I had built an empire.
Yet, I do not know how to rebuild trust without overstepping.
37
BELLE
Ididn’t mean to end up at Eleanor’s.
My van just . . . turned like it knew where to go before my brain did.
I knocked once before walking in.
“Anyone home? Eleanor?”
“Belle?” Eleanor’s voice floated from the kitchen.
I followed it. She was at the counter with Alex beside her, leaning back against it like he belonged there, which, I realized with a small pang of fondness, he did.
They both looked up when they saw my face.
“Uh-oh,” Alex said gently.
That was all it took. I sank into one of the kitchen chairs.
“I think I broke my marriage,” I muttered.
