She nods against my chest. I’m stunned. Eleanor is one of the strongest women I know, and to see her like this is unsettling, to say the least. With my arms wrapped around her, I hold her to me, relishing the feel of her in my arms. It’s been too damn long since I’ve held my wife.
Reluctantly, I loosen my hold and lean back to look her in the face. “Tell me what happened.”
She blinks up at me, and then she pushes away, crossing her arms over her chest. “Why did you cancel lunch?”
I stutter, surprised by the change in her. “Tell me what happened.”
She nods. “I will. But first I wanna hear why you canceled lunch with me.”
I take a step toward her. “I told you that something came up.”
She searches my face. “So the day that you and I are supposed to talk about our problems and me possibly coming back home… you canceled.”
I grit my teeth. “Oh, you’re coming back home. Especially after this little stunt.”
She wipes a tear from her cheek. “Stunt? You think that’s what this was? I’m not stupid, Robert. I wouldn’t put myself… our family… in the line of fire because I wanted your attention or something.”
I just cross my arms over my chest.
She throws her hand up. “Italiano is midtown. I didn’t go into the Sterlings’ territory. I wasn’t looking for trouble or to mess up your day. I wanted lunch, and I didn’t want to sit here by myself and eat it.”
I blow out a breath. “Fuck. I know you wouldn’t. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. I’m going crazy without you, Ellie.”
She laughs. Literally bursts into laughter. “Really? You’re going crazy without me? Is that why you canceled our date? Is that whyyou had to go to the hotel over on Fifth Street when you were supposed to be having lunch with your wife?”
I glare at her. “Think about it, Eleanor. Think about it before you answer.” I jut my chin at her. “Why do you think I was at the hotel?”
She puts both hands on her shapely hips. “Oh, I don’t know, a booty call maybe. Why else would you be going to a hotel in the middle of the day when you were supposed to be meeting your wife?”
Anger courses through me, and before I say something I might regret, I step away from her, walk to the big bay window, and look down. I’ve fucked up. That’s all I know. If my wife of thirty-five years actually believes I would betray her, then I fucked up. I look down into the parking lot, and it seems like everything crosses my mind at once. Eleanor is not safe here. She wasn’t before, and she definitely isn’t now. But if she believes I’m cheating on her, she’s never going to come home.
I turn and look at her. “I fucked up.”
She looks stricken, and it’s then I make the connection. “No, not like that. I didn’t cheat on you, Ellie. I would never do that to you… to us.”
She glares at me. “Then tell me what you were doing at the hotel.”
I lean my head back and blow out a breath. I need to come clean. “I was meeting with an informant.”
She rolls her eyes. “Right. You were meeting an informant at a hotel downtown. Makes sense. Who is she, Robert?”
I walk over and sit on her couch and put my head in my hands. “I was meeting Audrey Sterling.”
She gasps and puts her nose in the air as she puts a hand to her stomach as if she’s going to be sick. “She’s half your age, Robert.”
I roll my eyes. “My God, woman, I’m not hooking up with her. I met with her and Bennett.”
“Bennett? What’s he got to do with this?”
I point at the empty cushion next to me. “Sit down.”
She reluctantly walks toward me and sits down. “What does our son have to do with this?”
I wrap my hand around hers. “You said that I needed to start letting go of the reins, Ellie. That’s what I’m doing.”
She gasps. “But…you’re quitting? You’re stepping down?”
She’s more excited than I thought she would be about this. She’s been asking for me to step back and take more time off, but I didn’t think she’d be happy with this turn of events.
