"Good. She should have fun."
"You're spoiling her."
"Someone should."
Zola looks at me. Really looks at me, like she's trying to see past the surface. "Why are you doing this? Really?"
Because I'm in love with you. Because seeing you makes me feel alive for the first time in eight years. Because I'll take whatever scraps of your life you're willing to give me.
But I can't say that. Not yet.
"Because you need help. Because Maeve's a good kid." I meet her eyes. "Because we're friends, remember?"
Friends. The word sits wrong between us, too small for what we were and too big for what we are.
But Zola nods slowly. "Right. Friends."
Then she turns back to her work, and I stay with Maeve, stacking cups just to watch her knock them down again.
That night Biancacorners me in the hallway. She's been drinking—I can smell the wine on her breath, see it in the loose way she's standing.
"Who is she?"
I keep my expression neutral. "Who's who?"
"Don't play stupid." Her voice rises. "You're gone every day. You come back smelling like—like vanilla and coffee and someone else. So who is she?"
"None of your business."
"I'm your wife!"
I almost laugh. Like she hasn't been supposedly cheating on me—not that I care. Bianca is just clinging to me for the status when I've always made everything perfectly clear between us.
"On paper." I start to move past her but she grabs my arm. I look down at her hand, then up at her face. "Let go."
"Not until you tell me what's going on."
"You want to know what's going on?" I pull free, stepping back. "I'm visiting an old friend. That's it. Nothing that concerns you."
"Everything you do concerns me."
"No." I keep my voice flat. "It doesn't. This marriage is an arrangement. You have your life, I have mine. Stay out of it."
She looks like I slapped her. "You're a cold bastard."
"Yeah. I am." I walk toward my office, done with this conversation. "Go to bed, Bianca."
"I hate you!"
"Good. Join the club."
I close the office door on her shouting, leaning against it and breathing through the frustration. Stellan's right—we need to handle this soon. Need to get the annulment moving before Bianca decides to make things complicated.
But first I need Zola to trust me again. Need her to let me all the way back in.
Then I can figure out the rest.
My phone buzzes.
