“I don’t think he’s having an affair. Not yet.”
“But...”
“But I could easily see it moving in that direction. She’s divorced and her husband isn’t a good father. I’m sure Ben would love to step in. He wouldn’t even have to wait through a pregnancy.”
“How do you know she’s divorced and the boy doesn’t have an involved father?”
“Ben told me.”
Charlotte gestured at the phone. “So wait... Where is this?”
“Right by the pharmacy. There’s a big grocery store next to it.”
“So he probably came out of work, saw her loading her groceries and is entertaining her son while she does it. Isn’t that his car parked right next to hers?”
“Yes, but—”
“Sloane, according to what you just told me, he’s been open with you about the new hire, who happens to have a young boy he’s trying to help with. How does that change anything?”
“Don’t you see it? How happy he is? He wants children,Char. Sandra, his coworker who sent me this picture, said he and Adele are getting close. That’s why she contacted me! She’s concerned. She must have reason to be.”
“She could be wrong—”
“I’m holding him back. If I don’t agree to have kids, he’ll leave me. If not now, eventually.” She gestured at the photograph Sandra had snapped of Ben helping to entertain Adele’s five-year-old. “Maybe even for her.”
Charlotte sighed audibly. “Sloane, no! Ben loves you. He’s always been true to you. Why would you doubt him now?”
“Because I can feel us drifting apart! We’re changing, have different interests. I don’t think I’m the right person for the person he’s turning into.”
“Have you two talked about this?”
“Not enough. We don’t want to acknowledge it. But we need to. We want different things.”
“Are you ready to let go of your marriage?”
Slumping lower in her seat, she finished the last sip of wine in the glass she’d brought outside. “I don’t know. I’d be giving up such a good man.”
“Yes, you would.”
“You think I’d be making a mistake...”
Charlotte seemed to choose her words carefully. “I can’t say that. Sometimes two people aren’t right for each other even though they’re both good people. That’s actually what I’ve been writing about, and that could be the case here. But you’ve always been so much in love. It’s hard to choose divorce when you’re not splitting up for... for something that makes the decision necessary.”
“We just want different lives!” she reiterated.
“Are you sure you don’t want children?”
“No,” she admitted. “But I also don’t want to feel forced into having them.”
“I can understand that. I wanted children, but Cliff wasn’t ready—”
“Ew!” she broke in, using the back of her hand to wipe her nose. “Don’t compare me to Cliff.”
“I know you don’t like him, but—”
“Are you going back to him? Because his opinion on children isn’t the problem. He doesn’t want you to have any of your friends or family in your life. That selfish bastard wants you all to himself, so you can focus your time, effort and energy exclusively on him. Then in a few years, he’ll probably cast you aside for a much younger woman.”
“Ouch!” Charlotte said.
