Page 109 of Merging Wright

“You know Jane and I had a marriage of convenience.”

“Convenient for you, maybe, but Jane is in love with you.”

My head rears back, and I stare at my brother, still propped on his cane. “How can you say that?”

“Anyone looking at her knew how she felt.”

The inside of my chest thumps, like a soft mallet on a bass drum. The sensation repeats. My breathing grows shallow. “Not me.”

“Because, like Jane said, you’re an idiot.” He stares at me, squinting a second. “Your eyes weren’t open wide enough because your heart was closed.”

Myles’s lips curl in the corner before growing to a knowing smile as he watches me. “You really had no idea?”

I shake my head. I had no idea my wife was in love with me.

“I need to go.” I abruptly stand.

“Never expected you to stay.” Myles’s smile curves into a genuine grin, and I stare back at my brother, which is like looking in a mirror.

“I’m sorry, Myles.” The apology is weak and overdue, and we have so much more to unpack between us.

“Get outta here.” He nods. “And don’t come back unless your acushla is with you.” Myles chuckles, almost mocking me with the term, but he isn’t wrong.

Jane is my heartbeat and the only one who can restore this irregular beat to a steady hum.

+ + +

Only I don’t leave. After a quick phone call to Tucker, I’m stopped in my tracks.

Jane quit.

She left Impact.

She quit us.

She left me.

Punch after punch, blows hit hard as Tucker rails into me with the news that Jane quit on her first day back in Chicago and then took long overdue vacation time during the two weeks which should have been her notice time.

“I am not telling you where the fuck she is,” Tucker snarls through the phone.

“Just tell me she’s safe.” My brother who shares a father, but has another mother, must hear the panic in my voice. He knows accidents can happen. A life can be over in an instant and your life can be thrown off course with the loss.

“She’s safe,” he huffs, not offering me more. Tucker and I have a lot to discuss but he’s giving me grace to get this shitstorm in Wrightwood under control. Right now, I need patience with Jane.

Because of Wrightwood, you bastard. Or should I blame Fischer? He got me here. I’m invested. And none of this would have happened without Jane.

My acushla.

+ + +

For the next week, everyone gives me a wide berth as I wade through issues surrounding the fire damage. I bury myself in work. Exhausting my brain so I don’t think of Jane. Hardening my heart to her absence.

One evening, I find myself standing in the new park, watching the river roll underneath the bridge. My thoughts are random, rising and falling like the miniature crests in the water below.

Hard-soled shoes scraping over gravel turns my head and I watch Landon approach me. Looking at him, his body language suggests he has something unpleasant to tell me.

Is Jane divorcing me?