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“I took my time and was careful,” I say, though a part of me knows he’s right. Climbing two stories into the air in the dark was a risk. It was scary, too, but not as scary as the thought of letting Barrett push me away.
I know him. The longer he has to justify his decision, the more entrenched he’ll become. If I’d waited until morning, my chances of getting through to him would be even slimmer than they are now.
“I work out,” I add, lifting my chin, “I have strong arms and legs. And I wouldn’t have had to climb the tree if you’d come down to talk to me. Or at least opened the window instead of being a big cowardly baby.”
The muscle in his jaw clenches as he stands. “I’m not being a coward. I’m making the most mature, most reasonable decision for the both of us. Even though it’s hard and hurts like hell.”
“But that’s the thing,” I say, surging to my feet, wishing I were taller so I could look him straight in the eye without having to tip my chin back and push up on tiptoe. “You don’t get to make decisions for both of us. That’s not the way relationships work. We work through problems together.” He starts to speak but I cut him off, “At the very least, we’re obligated to tell the other person what the problem is. You can’t just run away without an explanation. That’s not fair to you or me or Keanu, who is going to be really sad if you make me move out, by the way. You know how much he’ll enjoy peeing in smaller, cuter shoes.”
His lips don’t so much as twitch, confirming whatever sent him running is serious.
I step closer, reaching for his hand, but he steps out of reach with a small shake of his head. “Please,” I add in a softer voice. “Tell me what happened. One minute everything was fine, and we were having a lovely evening and then you were suddenly just…gone.”
“I explained in my text.”
“Your text explained nothing. If anything, it just made me more confused. Like that part about my reputation being damaged. Where did that come from?” I ask, hazarding a guess when he remains tight-lipped. “Did you hear someone talking about me or something? Maybe thinking it was weird that you brought me to your ex-wife’s wedding?”
He looks away, making me think I might be on the right track.
“Because if that’s the case, I don’t care,” I say. “Lane invited you and offered you the chance to bring a plus one. And Lane and I have always had a perfectly civil relationship. She even smiled and waved at me after she and Grant finished their first dance.”
Barrett glances back, a pained expression on his face. “She’s good at hiding the way she really feels. Apparently.”
I frown. “What do you mean?”
“She thought there was something going on. With us. Before the divorce. Before her affair,” he whispers. “I heard some of her friends talking by the champagne fountain. They didn’t know I was there and…spoke freely.”
“And they said Lane thought we were sleeping together?” I ask, my brows shooting up my forehead. I exhale with a huff. “Because that’s crazy. We weren’t. You barely even noticed I was a woman.”
“I noticed, but…” His gaze drops to the carpet. “From what I heard, it seems Lane considered it more of an…emotional betrayal. One year I forgot about our anniversary. I stayed late at the office with you and ruined Lane’s surprise celebration. She never said anything, but it seemed that was a turning point for her in deciding our marriage might be beyond repair.”
I rock back on my heels, stunned. “Wow, that’s…” I want to say crazy again, but maybe it’s not. I was certainly emotionally invested in Barrett back then and eager to soak up every extra minute I could steal with him. I thought I was hiding the way I felt from Lane and everyone else, but maybe I wasn’t. “And the woman you heard thought I was complicit in that? That I was trying to steal you away or something? Is that why you were worried about my reputation?”
He shifts his focus back to my face, but slowly, heavily, like there are lead weights on his eyelids. “I’m not sure. More than anything, they seemed to feel sorry for you.”
My chin rocks back this time, the words hitting like a physical blow. “What? Why?”
“They don’t consider me much of a catch,” he says, his lips curving into a smile that doesn’t have a lick of happiness in it. “One of the women thought I’d emotionally betray you the way I did Lane. The other thought you’d wake up one day and realize you’d wasted your life caring for a man you’d created in your mind. And by then it would be too late for you to move on with someone else.”
