Page 73 of If I Didn’t Have You

“To work on our relationship!”

“And you haven’t spoken to him since. It’s like my husband always said, a man has needs. And if he’s not getting it at home, he’ll get it somewhere else.”

My eyes slowly slid over my husband as he laughed with Sam, stretching and moving in ways I hadn’t seen in years. Then he put on gloves, and was just about to get in the ring when I quickly hid behind a post, hoping he hadn’t seen me.

“He wouldn’t do that,” I whispered, more to myself than Georgia. “We’re working things out.”

“No, you’re spending all your time focusing on you and telling your husband what a louse he is. That does not a great marriage make.”

“Stop talking like you’re Shakespeare,” I growled, irritated with her.

“Hey, you might not want to admit it, but you as good as told him you were over. What did you expect him to do?”

I had hoped he would go out and fix the issues he was having. I never expected he would start working out for the sake of attracting younger women.

I peeked out from behind the post just as he did some flex thing with his arms as River walked past. I gasped as she threw out some line about how good he was looking. He smirked at her, showed off his muscles some more, before warming up with Sam.

“Oh. My. God!” I gasped. “River? Little River Ainsley? Our yoga instructor? That’s the bimbo he’s showing off for?”

“Shh!” Georgia dragged me out the door and onto the street, pushing me around the corner. “Do you want everyone in town to know that a woman twenty years younger than you is going to take your man?”

“Well, it would seem neither of them is hiding!” Pressing my hands to my face, I let the tears fall. I was such a fool. “God, I’m so stupid. Men don’t change, especially not for a woman! Why did I kick him out?”

Sighing, she did her best to comfort me, pulling me in for a hug. “Honey, it would have happened one way or another. Neither of you was happy. It was bound to end this way.”

But that didn’t sound right. We might not have been the happiest couple, but before I went on this crusade of changing myself, we were making it work. I still had a husband in bed with me every night. There was always someone to make breakfast for, and at the end of the night, I listened to him rant about the day.

No, it wasn’t perfect, but it was working.

And then I went and destroyed everything.

“God, what have I done?”

Georgia pulled me into her arms, shushing me as I cried big crocodile tears on her shoulder. “Honey, the whole street is watching,” she chuckled. “You’ve got to pull yourself together.”

The problem was, I didn’t know how. I’d been married over thirty years, and now it was all falling apart. I never expected anything like this. When I set out to make myself happy, I never considered it would drive my husband away.

“Come on, let’s go before we give the town anything more to chew on.”

“Oh, fuck the town,” I snarled.

“Clara!” Georgia gasped, pressing her hand to her chest, taking a step back. “Language!”

And in that moment, there was nothing to do but laugh. Hilariously, uproariously laugh at the ridiculousness of her words. That was me. I was the woman who chastised others for how they spoke, and now I was hearing how I sounded for the first time.

“Clara Parker, what is so funny?”

Pressing a hand to my chest, I wheezed between laughs, trying to pull myself together. “Language!” I shouted, which only made me laugh even harder.

Tears streamed down my face as a stitch built in my side, making it painful to carry on. But I didn’t stop the laughter, even though I must have looked like an idiot. I just didn’t care anymore.

This was my life, and if the town chose to gossip about me, they could carry on all they wanted.

“I can’t believe this,” Georgia hissed, looping her arm through mine. “You look ridiculous.”

I swiped at the tears falling down my cheeks as she dragged me to my vehicle. “Don’t we always?”

“Certainly not!”