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He had to make it clear that wasn’t the case. But what could he say to convince her he was telling the truth? That he’d left because the fault was within him, not with her?
“Ainsley, I told you the truth. I broke up with you because I needed to move to New York to pursue my career, and I knew you didn’t want to leave your family here.
“Please believe me,” he said. “The kid thing didn’t matter to me. We could have always adopted, if that’s what we both wanted.” He was telling the truth. Part of him had been disappointed when she’d told him she was unable to have children. But he’d never felt compelled to become a father, never had that all-consuming desire to have children. Santiago had always thought that kids deserved to be born into a family that wanted them more than anything. Since he didn’t want kids more than anything that way, he was happy remaining child-free.
“All right,” she said finally, but it was clear from her tone she still had doubts. “It’s fine. We can still use it as part of our story, if you want.”
“No,” he said, putting a little steel into his voice. “I’m not going to ask you to expose yourself to these people. They don’t deserve your pain. Besides, it wasn’t true then, and it isn’t true now. We’ll just stick with the original script.” He searched for something else to say, hoping to lighten the mood. “You can say you hate my family, too.”
She turned to look at him and he glimpsed the curiosity on her face before returning his gaze to the road. “I never met your parents,” she said.
He huffed out a laugh. “Trust me. That was for a reason.” He didn’t enjoy spending time with his family. Gabriela was fine, but his mom and dad had spent so many years antagonizing each other they didn’t know how else to behave. Even if he got them one-on-one, they spent the entire visit complaining about the other person so that there was no way to have a real conversation. For the sake of his own mental health, Santiago limited his contact with his parents to emails and the occasional phone call.
“It seems wrong that this is all your fault,” she mused. “I mean it makes sense from my perspective that I would blame you for everything. But they’re going to want to know why you’re happy to end things. We need to come up with some issues that you have with me, so it seems realistic that you’d be willing to walk away as well. Otherwise, why wouldn’t you want to fight for us?”
He considered her words as he took the next freeway exit and maneuvered the car onto the access road. What she said made sense—it would be a little suspicious if the impetus for the breakup was all one-sided. “Do you have any ideas?” he asked.
“What if we told them I had an affair?” she suggested. “I blamed you for working too much and being out of town all the time, so I cheated on you.”
The idea of Ainsley with another man triggered a reflexive spurt of jealousy, but he quickly tamped it down. He had no claim on her, no right to be offended or hurt if she was with someone else. Her relationship status was a question he hadn’t thought to ask earlier. Was that because he didn’t want to know the answer?
“That’s a good idea,” he said. “Um, I probably should have asked you this before, but are you seeing anyone right now?” He held his breath, waiting for her to reply.
“No.”
Santiago relaxed as some of the tension left his body. Her answer shouldn’t have mattered to him, but it did. The small, selfish part of him didn’t want to think about her with another man. No one was good enough for her—he could say that with authority. Even he had spent many an hour wondering what he’d done to deserve her affections. Her love was a gift, one he hadn’t taken for granted. But in the end, he’d had to acknowledge she’d be better off without him.
“What about you? I know you’re single now, but has there been anyone special since you moved to New York?”
Her question caught him off guard. He hadn’t expected her to be curious about his own personal life, since she’d made it clear she was only helping him because he’d agreed to take her brother’s case. Did she feel the same twinge of jealousy at the thought of another woman in his life? Or was she simply curious, wondering about his path since they’d parted ways?
“Ah, no,” he said, deciding not to elaborate. He hadn’t exactly been living the life of a monk, but he hadn’t found anyone he really clicked with, either.
She didn’t reply, and he couldn’t see her expression so he didn’t know what she was thinking. Hopefully, his single status would help convince her that he really had been telling the truth five years ago—he’d left to work on his career, not because he wanted to trade her in for a different model. He’d should have made that clear years ago, but he just hadn’t been able to talk about his fears regarding commitment with her. At the time, it had seemed easier to use his career aspirations as the excuse to end their relationship.
They were silent the rest of the drive, which wasn’t very long. In a matter of minutes, he turned off the two-lane country road onto a gravel drive. The car bounced along for about a hundred yards until the drive ended in a small paved parking lot. He pulled into a spot and turned off the engine, and together, they stared at the large log cabin situated about twenty yards away.
“Nice,” Ainsley observed, turning her head to look at the smaller cabins nestled among the trees nearby. It was clear the large cabin was the main gathering center, and Santiago imagined the smaller ones were lodgings for the couples at the retreat.
The whole thing had a slick, polished feel to it. Flowerbeds lined the sidewalk to the main cabin, bursting with color. The grass was green and clipped, and the trees cast dappled shade on everything. Under any other circumstances, he would have enjoyed staying at a place like this.
“It seems cheating people pays well,” he observed. If the grounds looked this nice, the interior must be amazing as well. The Woodses had an image to maintain, after all.
Santiago turned to look at Ainsley. “Last chance.” He wasn’t going to force her to stay and play the part of his wife, especially after her earlier tears. He had no intention of letting the Woodses get away with their fraudulent behavior, but he also wasn’t willing to emotionally torture Ainsley to expose them as cheats and liars.
A glint of determination shone in her eyes. “I’m ready. Are you?”
He smiled, relieved to know she was on his team. “Let’s do this.”
Chapter 4
Ainsley took a deep breath, trying to calm the nerves jangling in her stomach. She’d never been much of an actress. Hopefully she could pull this off. Spencer hadn’t been thrilled when she’d told him what she was doing, but then again, she hadn’t been looking for his approval. She’d simply wanted to let him know what was going on, in case there was any trouble.
Santiago walked next to her as they moved up the path, side by side. The sunlight glinted off the emerald she wore on her left hand, the stone the same color as the trees around them. She still wasn’t used to the feel of the band around her finger. But it was a gorgeous set, and a small, girlish part of her felt a little thrill every time she glanced down and caught sight of the jewelry.
Since when have I been distracted by shiny things? she mused silently, tearing her gaze away from the ring.
She jumped when Santiago took her hand. Without thinking, she pulled away. He slid her a glance. “We’re splitting up, remember?” she whispered.
