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Of course, her fabric had arrived. Having waited weeks for the expensive tapestry material, she wanted to see it. She’d chosen the fabrics online and intended to use them to make a wall hanging for her church.
Could she simply return his call about the fabric? That would be a neutral topic, possibly a place to start. She touched the phone, her fingers tapping along its smooth surface. “Do it!” she said to the empty room.
She reached for the phone just as it rang. Caller ID showed Aidan’s number. Suddenly nervous, she picked up. “Aidan?”
“It’s me, Grace.” She heard him sigh and wanted to reach through the phone and touch his cheek. “I—did you get my message about the fabric?”
“I did. I was thinking that I might come over today sometime if you’re going to be around. Or this evening, maybe,” she offered, aware of how much she needed to hear his voice.
“I’m working from home today. Come over anytime you want,” he said, his words tender in her ear.
Her body warmed at the memory of other times when he’d spoken to her like that. There had always been such warmth between them, such a powerful connection, and yet…
Her heart pounding in her throat, she clutched the phone tighter to her ear, willing him to talk to her about how he loved her, needed her and wanted her in his life. He’d said it the other night, but in her anxiousness, she needed to hear it once more.
In that moment, she faced what had been uppermost in her heart. She would give anything to see him. But she needed to move quickly before her courage deserted her. “What about now? Or maybe in an hour?”
“No. Please. Come over now. I’m right here. I’ll close up my computer and turn my cell phone off so we can talk,” he said, his words coming fast.
“Okay. I’ll be over in a few minutes,” she said, her heart pounding in that old familiar way it did whenever she talked to her husband.
Grace drove carefully through the streets toward the house she loved and the man she’d married and had loved with all her heart. Did she still love him after all this, or was she simply wishing for her past life? Would he ever understand how much he’d hurt her? Despite how she felt about him, what he’d done five years ago would always be between them, influencing how they felt about each other, if they couldn’t find a way to overcome it.
Would they be able to connect, to put the past behind them? If she were willing to try again, how long would it take before she could trust him with her feelings? And if they were to start over, to put their marriage first in their lives, how long would that take? What if they discovered, after months of trying again, that their love hadn’t survived what they’d been through?
What if she got to the house only to learn that nothing had changed, that Aidan insisted on convincing her that she needed to see things his way? If he did, what would she do? She suddenly realized that she’d been placing all her hope in a meeting like this, one where they could share their concerns as a starting point. And if it didn’t go that way…
As she pulled into the driveway, she noted that Lisa’s car wasn’t there. She had felt uncomfortable around the woman from the first moment she met her, mostly because Lisa seemed to know things about her husband she shouldn’t have known if Aidan had only been at the house once.
No matter how hard Grace tried, she couldn’t shake the feeling that Deidre and Aidan had been in touch after their short affair. Underneath everything that had gone on, Grace was afraid that Aidan hadn’t told her the whole truth. And no matter what they said to each other, how hard Aidan tried to convince her otherwise, the fear she felt at his behavior was the direct result of his infidelity. A betrayal she might not be able to move beyond. If she were unable to put the past behind her, there was little hope for their marriage.
