“You’ve been planning this for a while.” He set his empty glass on the table beside the couch.
“Preparing, anyway.” And trying to find the courage to pull the trigger. “I hope you’ll agree to give me financial support while I figure out next steps, but if not, I’ll file legal separation papers.”
He waved her comment aside. “Your name is on all the bank accounts. You have full access to them.”
“In case you’re worried, I don’t plan to be extravagant.”
“I trust you with our money, Diane.”
“I would rather you trusted me with your heart.”
“If I didn’t trust you with my heart, I wouldn’t have married you.”
“But you stopped sharing what wasinyour heart long ago. You locked me out. Started calling all the shots. Quit listening. You gave me and Lucas things when we both needed you.” She huffed out a soft, humorless laugh. “Funny. We’ve talked more about what really matters in the past five minutes than we have in longer than I can remember.” She pulled out her keys.
“Are you leaving right now?”
“Yes.”
An emotion that looked like panic swept through his eyes. “Is there anything I can do to change your mind?”
“Not today. Or tomorrow.”
“What about down the road?”
“I’m not sure.” Offering any assurances about what the future held would be disingenuous.
He shoved his hands into his pockets. “You know I still love you, right?”
“I’m not sure about that, either.”
His Adam’s apple bobbed. “May I call you?”
“Not for a while.”
“Does Lucas know about this?”
“He will soon. I have fences to mend with him too. I could have been a better mother.”
“You’ve been a fine mother.”
“If that were true, he wouldn’t have ended up on the other side of the law.”
“That wasn’t your fault.”
“I should have insisted on more discipline, Martin. I should have objected whenever you took his side after he messed up. Made him take responsibility for his actions. We didn’t do him any favors by letting him get away with bad choices.”
When he didn’t respond, she crossed toward the door.
“I’m not going to beg you to stay.” Martin spoke behind her in the imperious tone that had grown all too familiar over the years.
“I know.” She angled toward him, trying to see past the hard-nosed businessman to the man she’d married a quarter of a century ago.
The square jaw she’d once thought represented strength rather than arrogance hadn’t changed. Neither had the noble nose her mother had deemed too thin.
But the blue eyes that used to soften in warmth when they gazed at her had grown sharp in the fourteen years since he’d taken over the business from his father, and his dark hair had a liberal sprinkling of gray.
Once upon a time, the man she’d marriedwouldhave begged her to stay.
