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“Mm, that’s good.” She smiled at him, her surface smile devoid of depth, and Gabriel rubbed his forehead with his hand in frustration.
“Evie,” he said. “I know that things between us aren’t ideal, but I thought that maybe we can change that. Or start over.”
Evie blinked at him. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, I am tired of you cutting me out of your life. I am your husband.”
“This wasn’t our bargain, as you recall.”
“No, but—”
“Haven’t we had this conversation before? I don’t think I want a repeat of that.”
Gabriel pursed his lips together. “Fine. But before we married, we were friends.”
“We are friends still.”
“Then why are you acting as though we are strangers?”
Evie furrowed her brow.
“You don’t think I notice the difference between how open you were with me before and how you treat me now? Just like another beau. I miss your real smiles, I miss your jests, your passion.”
Evie scoffed. “That girl you are describing is gone now.”
“No, she is not. I know you are angry with me, but just tell me what I can do to make it better?”
Evie stood so suddenly, the armchair she sat in scraped the floor. “Have you ever thought that this perhaps has nothing to do with you? I am grieving. I have lost everything that was dear to me in a span of a few months. I cannot be happy and gleeful all the time—”
Gabriel stood also. “That’s not what I meant.”
“No, this is exactly what you meant. You want me to go back to the cheerful and worry-free girl I was before, but the truth is she never really existed. I just learned to bottle up my frustrations and let them out around the people I loved so they could comfort me. Now I have no one! So pardon me and my grief. But if you don’t want to see it, then you better not seek me out.”
She walked past him, rounding him with enough space that an elephant could fit between them.I have no one. Her words echoed in his mind.
“You have me,” he said, his voice hoarse.
Evie paused in the doorway, her hands fisted by her sides. She didn’t turn; she didn’t say anything; she just took a breath and stalked out of the room.
