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“Michael”
“I knew I could find you If I wanted I could find you, but I didn’t want to find someone who ultiood And I thought I had”
“Your wife”
Michael walked back across the room to sit down He braced his elbows on his knees and stared at the floor “My ex-wife The divorce finalized a week ago Her name is Kiersten”
Loving Michael meant I didn’t want to know about her I didn’t want to know about the wootten to sleep by his side for years To talk to hih with him It cut me up inside so badly, I could hardly breathe Yet, the masochist in me needed to kno much he’d loved her “Why did it fall apart?”
He snorted, the sound derisive “Why did it fall apart?” He turned his head to look atapart That’s the honest truth When we h Kiersten is cute, and she’s funny, and I liked that she couldeach other laugh, and I didn’t knohy Until we took a vacation in Hartwell to try one last tie”
His gaze drifted over my face and down my body before he flinched and looked away “After we ot back to the hotel, and Kiersten lost it She wanted to knoho you were So I told her That I’d loved you That you left without a word and I hadn’t seen you in nine years And you knohat she told me?”
It was hard to breathe, let alone speak
“That everything made sense now That I’d kept her at a distance the entire four years we’d been together That I never let her in I never talked about my parents I never talked about my past I never talked about my work Sure, I’d listen to her, but anyti that was too personal, I avoided the question” He shook his head “I didn’t even realize I was doing it But she was right”
“Because of me?” I was almost afraid to ask
“I thought about it when I granted her the divorce Decided maybe I’d been a shit husband because I was afraid she’d hurt me like you had But these last feeeks … I knoasn’t only that It was because she just Wasn’t You”
Re I couldn’t say was in my eyes
“I fucked over a good woman I didn’t mean it But I did it” He
rubbed a hand over his head and sighed “Thankfully, she’s uy”
We were quiet as I let all that sink in I ached for hi had caused hily part of lad he couldn’t love his wife the way he’d loved ly selfish?