“Weallwrecked this,” I snapped. “You, me, and David. You share some of the blame, too.”
His eyes narrowed on me. “If you want something from me, this isn’t the way to get it.”
“I’m sick of both of you acting like little boys fighting over a toy,” I said and pursed my lips. “It was my decision to make—not his, not yours. David has the money to fight back in ways that could devastate you, and if you try to hurt him, I won’t stop him from trying.”
“Jesus.” Bill scoffed. “You have an affair for months, lie about it, call Lucy’s sister nasty names, and now you’re threatening me? I don’t even know you anymore.”
The truth was, he never really had—not the whole me. He’d chosen to accept the parts that suited him and ignore what didn’t. And David had shown me that was no way for either Bill or me to live. “I want you to drop the adultery charge,” I said. “And I want the divorce in six months instead of two years.”
“Why would I agree to that?” he asked. “So you can run off and marry him?”
“I’m trying to protect you, Bill,” I said. “I don’t want to drag this out. It’s not healthy emotionally or financially. I want us all to move on.”
“Move on?” he asked, rounding the desk with his brows furrowed. “It’s only beenweeks.” He stopped a few feet away, looking down at me. “Well, weeks for me. But I guess you’ve been planning this for a while.”
“You know that’s not true,” I said. “This is all new to me, too.”
He blew out a sigh, glancing out his office window. “What’s messed up is that even with what you did,Icould still, somehow, get stuck paying alimony.”
That was true, unfair as it was. But I could prevent it. All I had to do was let go of the things that scared me and trust in the decisions I’d made. David’s love had done something to me. In the little time we’d spent together, he’d proven his love was real and that I not only had it . . . I deserved it.
There was no victim here, and no villain, either. Bill and I had both made mistakes that caused us suffering. “I’ve put you through a lot,” I said, “and I’m sorry. I really am. But I think one day you’ll see that this isn’t all my fault.”
“I don’t think—”
“If you agree to the six months, I’ll waive the right to alimony,” I said. “Not only that, but you can keep the car and everything you didn’t throw in those boxes. All I want is what I contributed to the savings account.”
“Are you crazy?” he asked. “Your contributions are measly compared to what you could get in alimony. Why would you do that?”
I picked at my fingernail. “I have my reasons.”
Bill’s eyebrows rose. “He put you up to this?”
“It’s my decision,” I said.
“Your share isn’t even enough for legal fees—or anything really.”
“I know.”
His tongue shot into his cheek as he thought. “So I just get . . . everything else?”
“Yes. I’m asking you this final favor. For me,” I pleaded. “If you ever loved me . . . let me go.”
I read the pity in his eyes clearly. He was thinking that David would leave me with nothing. He knew, as a lawyer, the risk I was taking, and I’d figured he’d try to talk me out of it. But he didn’t.
“All right,” he said slowly. “If I’m completely exempt from alimony, I’ll agree to six months. But I have a condition.”
I folded my hands in my lap. “Okay,” I prompted.
Hesitation crossed his face, but it was fleeting. “Beyond the divorce proceedings, you and I no longer have any contact whatsoever.”
And just like that, in a matter of weeks, our relationship had come to its abrupt end. It had never occurred to me that Bill would one day be just a memory. Something that had happened but was no longer. And that one day, the years I’d given him would seem like so little time.
Bill’s request only came from anger and hurt, but, regardless, he was right. It would be easiest to make as clean a split as possible. I looked at him with sadness and regret—not for losing him but for the pain I’d caused him. I now knew that we were wrong for each other, but it didn’t change the fact that we had loved each other. And I didn’t want to hurt him anymore. For that, I knew the only way to make things right was to cut him free. So I said, “Agreed.”
* * *
Gretchen, Greg, Brian, and his new girlfriend had all been in Florida since the day before, so they were already settled into Brian’s parents’ house by the time I arrived. Just outside Miami, the four-bedroom place on the water comfortably fit the group of us. Brian showed me to a room upstairs. We had plans for a sunset dinner, so I dropped my things and changed into a navy shift dress and knee-high brown boots.
