AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I miss you, too,” Grace said, a yearning for him and their life together sweeping through her.
After a few minutes of staring at each other through the screen, Aidan asked, “What are you planning to do until I get back? I mean, are you planning to stay at Lucas’s?”
She wanted to stay in her home, and maybe she should. With Aidan willing to make concessions for her sake, it meant they might have a chance to work out their problems. “I’ll see—”
“Sorry to bother you,” a voice broke in.
Aidan turned away from the camera. “What is it, Lisa?”
“A parcel arrived for you from your office,” she said, passing a large brown envelope to Aidan.
“Where are you, Aidan?” Grace asked.
He faced the screen, a small frown on his face. “I’m in Deidre’s home office. It’s a great workspace. See?” Aidan panned the room for her.
Grace studied the background, the framed photos of Deidre and Emma, searching for any pictures of Aidan as her pulse pounded in her throat. “You’re working out of Deidre’s office? You didn’t rent space for the weeks you’re planning to be there? Why did you do that?”
He shrugged. “It just made sense to stay here to be near Emma. There’s almost everything I need here.” He turned the envelope over in his hands. “And this looks like the documents I need for the Perlman Project.”
“You don’t get it, do you?” she said as disappointment flooded her.
There was a long moment of silence during which Aidan stared at her, his expression slowly changing into one of disbelief. “I—Grace, I didn’t think about how this would feel for you. I just saw the opportunity to be near Emma while I worked… Sorry.”
Pain and loss rose in Grace. Her husband was working in the same office he’d worked in with Deidre that weekend. She remembered clearly that he’d said they’d been working from her home. She imagined her husband in that room with Deidre, alone, with their attraction to each other building. She imagined the touches, the stolen kisses, the foreplay… Had the first time been in that room? She felt sick.
“Aidan, I have to go,” she managed to say before rushing to the bathroom across the hall. Sinking to her knees over the commode, all the anger and hurt, betrayal and fear flowed out of her. She was sick of it all—the fear, the hopelessness, the loss. Finally, when the convulsions eased, she leaned against the vanity.
She could hear Aidan calling out to her over the Skype connection but couldn’t bring herself to answer him. There was no way he could help her. Only she knew the raw emotion of betrayal and abandonment. She wiped her mouth, got off the floor, found her purse and headed out the door of her home. Once in the car, she clutched the wheel to steady herself.
She’s been so upbeat, so hopeful when he’d asked to Skype with her. And he seemed so conscious of doing the right thing, including for her…while he sat in the office of his former lover. A part of her couldn’t believe how hard this had hit her. But she hadn’t expected to find him in Deidre’s office, nor had she expected him to be so nonchalant about it. She had a long way to go before she could ever trust Aidan with her feelings. He had no idea how much his past had hurt her and continued to hurt her.
CHAPTER TWELVE
AS THE NEXT few weeks dragged on, Grace fell into a funk, feeling aimless and at odds with everything around her. She’d cleaned her brother’s condo from top to bottom, gone online and read articles on quilting, gone to the local magazine shop and bought every magazine they had on quilting and hooking rugs, all to no avail. The days still continued to drag by.
She couldn’t face talking to Aidan again because she didn’t know what to say to him. He’d left several messages apologizing and wanting to know that she was okay. She’d sent him an email explaining why she’d gotten off the phone, but she couldn’t talk to him. He offered another apology but it didn’t help how she felt. Once she’d settled down a bit, she realized that seeing Aidan in Deidre’s office had reinforced the fact she’d been lied to and cheated on.
