Page 79 of His Secret Wish

He laughed, the sound rusty, and continued up the stairs. He tossed the envelope on the desk in his bedroom and made a beeline for the bathroom. The scalding hot water felt good against his tired muscles, and he wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed and sleep. But he’d promised to go get that beer with Mason.

As he got dressed in some clean clothes, he realized he was actually looking forward to spending some time with his older brother. Since they hadn’t been in contact for so long, he didn’t actually know a lot about Mason and his life before he’d moved back to the ranch. It would definitely be interesting.

He spotted the envelope out of the corner of his eye and went over and picked it up. Some part of him knew what it was already, but because he was an idiot, he tore it open and pulled out the papers inside.

The divorce papers.

He sank back onto the bed, the papers clutched tight in his hand. Anger and hurt washed through him. He closed his eyes and took a couple of deep, calming breaths. No, this was good. It was the next step that needed to be taken, no matter how difficult. Once the divorce was finalized, and he sold the house, maybe he could finally be at peace.

And it would give Izzy a chance to move on, since that was clearly what she wanted.

The piercing ache in his heart, the one that had been there since the day she’d moved out, and had slowly grown with every day they’d been apart, flared bright, stealing his breath.

But then it died down just as quickly as it had come on.

He rubbed at his chest. It would always be there, until the day he died, but for the first time in forever, he realized he could live with it. That he couldn’t let it rule his life. Because he was right, he’d just been existing these last few years. And he was tired of it.

The promise he’d made to himself needed to be kept. He’d finally told Izzy how he felt, what he wanted. And yeah, sure, she’d stomped all over his heart, but at least he knew he’d done everything he could. While he didn’t like the outcome, he couldn’t say he hadn’t put it all on the line.

He didn’t think he’d ever get over Izzy, or losing the life they’d had together, but he finally felt like he was at a place where he could live with it. Accept it.

He tilted his head back, stared at the ceiling. “I guess this is personal growth, huh? It kind of sucks.”

With a sigh, he pushed himself off the bed and went over to the desk. He flipped to the last page, the one where the signatures were required. Izzy’s loopy handwriting stared back at him.

He grabbed a pen, pressing the tip against the paper on the line above his name. The ink made a dot on the paper, and he froze, almost lost his grip. He tightened his fingers, and with a deep breath, scrawled his name on the line.