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The more time I spent around Kane, I wasn’t sure he had ever been anything but truthful with me. And as confused as I was, deep down, I believed him.
“Want his phone number? Or better yet, maybe he’ll call. He sure as hell doesn’t have a problem letting me know when they’ve maxed out Alma’s credit cards.” Bitterness rolled off him in such brute force, it nearly knocked me back.
Was he telling the truth? Had he been waiting to see if fun Alma made a comeback? Had Kane and Alma truly not had a marriage?
They had a document that legally bound them together.
A piece of paper.
That was it.
A. Piece. Of. Paper.
“I... I don’t know what to say.” And I truly didn’t.
If I had been in his position for all these years... if it was as he said... just the thought made me feel cold and empty. What did Kane have other than his work? No wonder he was so good at it.
“There’s nothing to say about it unless you’ve got something to help me keep what’s mine.” He dropped his chin to his chest. The tiredness in his voice wasn’t just from today. It was decades old.
My heart pounded faster.
I did.
I had exactly what he needed.
Why did I feel obliged to help him? Because he’d saved my life once?
But what I had was the only card I held. I couldn’t play it now. Not until he helped Penelope.
Guilt swirled in my gut with a vengeance.
You did the right thing. You did what was best.
Had I?
What if I could’ve set Kane free long ago? What if I’d robbed him of happiness? Of a better life?
I hadn’t forced him to marry Alma, and I hadn’t forced him to stay married to her either.
But I could’ve changed things.It wasn’t totally on your shoulders, JoJo. He’s an adult who made his own choices.
“You should’ve left her a long time ago if you were so unhappy.”
He didn’t speak for several minutes. The only sound was thebang bangof his heel against the dryer when he climbed back up.
“My grandmother and Papa didn’t have a good relationship. I swear no two people were better at arguing than they were.”
I leaned closer. Why was I so desperate for any nugget of information he was willing to give?
“She drilled into me that when life gets hard, I wasn’t supposed to back down. I had to stick it out. Solve my problems, not run from them.” He lifted his gaze to me. “I failed when I said I do. I know that. I’ve never admitted it, not even to myself. But I couldn’t walk away. I couldn’t lose. Divorce felt like the easy way out. It’s a mark in the loss column, and I don’t have many of those.”
I gaped at him. Then I closed my mouth. As long as he stayed married, he thought he hadn’t lost. But he didn’t realize that by continuing in a miserable entanglement, he couldn’t win.
“You’re looking at me like I’m crazy.”
My hand went to his knee without thought. And once I realized I was touching him, I couldn’t make myself move.
“You’re saying you stayed in an unhappy marriage for over twenty years, Kane. To someone who cheated on you, repeatedly. Youarecrazy.”
