“Go with her.”
“We work together, Rafe, but we’re not friends. I don’t want to go to a play with her.” She glared at him, her eyes yelling the unspoken next sentence.I wanted to go with you. My husband.
“Isn’t there someone else you could go with?” Why did her social life live or die on his work schedule?
She pursed her lips, then crooked her finger in afollow megesture. In the office, she smoothed her hand down his arm and gave him a sad smile. “Why’d you come here, Rafe?”
Why did they have to dissect everything? His throat tightened and he struggled against the knee-jerk reaction of a smart-ass remark. “Because you deserve to look me in the eye when I let you down.”
She closed her eyes, brows pinched together, and he drifted his fingers over her forehead. She had a tiny mole just above her left eyebrow. He’d always loved it. She had the sweetest, prettiest face he’d ever seen. And behind it lay such a complicated girl brain that made his head explode.
“Liv…”
She fluttered her eyes open and the sadness there gutted him, but it also pissed him off. “Take someone else to the show.”
She shook her head slowly. “You don’t get it, do you? I don’t have anyone to take. Dani’s at school, Lynn had a baby a few weeks ago. That’s it, the sum total of my friends here. And it’s not like I’m not friendly, Rafe. It’s thatthere aren’t any other women my age here.”
“Maybe Tom—“
“Your brother isn’t a substitute for you! And don’t suggest Dean or Jake, either. I don’t want to go anymore.”
“But you wanted to see this play.”
Her eyes flared, and too late he realized her not having anyone to go with wasn’t really the problem. “I wanted to go on a date withyou,you idiot! Jeez, get a clue.”
She thought he was an idiot? Maybe she shouldn’t be so fucking complicated. He saw red and knew he should walk away, but he just couldn’t. “Maybe you should give me more clues then, Olivia.” She blanched at the use of her full name but he pushed on. Maybe they kept fighting because he let her bitch at him. “Look, I want to go on dates with you, okay? I want to make you happy. But I have a fucking job to do, got it? Two jobs. And I can’t just blow them off because you’re feeling a little needy.”
Her lips pinched together and her face went from pale to stark white. “I’m notneedy.”
He let out a hard, ruthless laugh. “Are you kidding me?Rafe, spend time with me.Rafe, I’m lonely. This is life with me, Liv. I’m busy.”
“It’s not always like this—“
“No, but when it is, it justis. And I can’t change that for you.”
“I’m not asking you—“
He exploded, the words spilling out of him before he could pull them back in. Before he could stop himself from tearing a strip off his wife who most definitely didn’t deserve his anger. “Yes, you fucking are. With your silence and your whining and your fucking neediness, Liv. Jesus. Give me some space.”
She stared at him for a minute. Regret cut him in half, but before he could pull her close and apologize, she took a deep breath and nodded. “Space. Got it.”
She left him standing there, and he couldn’t follow her. Everyone probably heard him yelling, which embarrassed him greatly. Embarrassed Liv even more. Damnit. He took a deep breath, then several more, and headed back out front. He didn’t look at anyone else, just Liv. She was behind the counter, her face bright red, and he wanted to re-do the last five minutes in the worst way.
But what was done was done. He stalked around the counter and pulled her into a gentle hug. “I love you, Liv.”
She didn’t say it back, and after a few beats, he gave her another squeeze and let her go.
— —
She gave the tickets to Deena. And before she went to bed, she wrote Rafe a long letter, hoping that he might understand her perspective better if he saw the words on paper instead of having them hurled at him in anger.
He hadn’t returned yet when she woke up the next morning. Instead of waiting for him, she left the letter on his pillow and drove south to visit her sister. They weren’t close, but Mina was happy to meet up with her in Kitchener for some retail therapy. Olivia didn’t tell her what was going on. They didn’t have that type of relationship. If anyone would understand, it was Dani, but that felt too much like a betrayal of Rafe’s trust.
It was close to midnight when she finally parked in front of their little house in Pine Harbour again. Rafe’s truck was in the drive, but the lights were all off except the front foyer. She found him fast asleep in bed, and she curled up next to him. Had he missed her? Had he been grateful for some space, as he’d asked? Would he want to do something together the next day? Sadness filled her as she lay next to him, realizing she doubted the answer to the last question would be yes.
They’d inflicted enough damage on each other that her own husband was wary of her. Tears slipped down her cheeks, soaking her pillow and the back of his shirt where she pressed her face. He didn’t wake up.
— —
