She shook her head. “I can’t do that. Iwon’tdo that, Thatcher. For months you texted her when you were supposed to be spending time with me. You ate lunches and dinners with her at restaurants Ibeggedyou to take me to. You missed my parents’ anniversary party. You missed the Orchid Ball. You missed so many dinners with me. And that was all while you were withher.”
“I’m sorry about all of that. More than you’ll ever know. But there are two things in that folder you’re holding that I can clear myself of doing.”
She looked down at it and back up at me. “What?” she asked skeptically.
“Well, first, and most important, I didn’t sleep with her…”
“We’ve covered that. Move on,” she said.
Taken aback, I paused and took a deep breath. “The other thing is that corporate credit card statement. I didn’t make those purchases. Madison lied to me and said she needed extravagant jewelry for one of the commercial shoots. I didn’t have time to take her to the jewelry store, so I gave her one of my corporate cards. She misused it. She bought herself hundreds of thousandsof dollars’ worth of jewelry, clothing, gifts, even the rent for her penthouse apartment. One of the accountants caught it and Bryce filed preliminary charges asking that she pay it all back.” I looked at my lawyer. “Didn’t he?”
He nodded but sighed. “Your mother paid for the all the charges and cleared Madison of the debt this morning.”
“What a shock that your mother would bail Madison out,” Carrie said with an eyeroll. “But I am glad to know that you didn’t shower her with gifts, at least. But it absolutely does not make up for the months’ worth of lavish meals you paid for and ate with her.”
My face colored with shame. “I can fix this. I swear I can,” I pleaded. “Just give me the chance.”
“Do you think that’s going to work? Did you have this affair with Madison thinking that if I found out I’d stay with you anyway? In addition to your infidelity, there’s your mother’s birthday party. I washumiliatedat that party. You watched it happen. You didn’t protect me from that. Isn’t that basic? When you get married, isn’t it reasonable to think your partner will have your back?”
I knew she wasn’t looking for an answer. I hung my head. She was right. I’d let her down in every way.
She took a deep breath as if she was trying to hold on to her composure. “I told you after that party that we both needed to take the couple of weeks afterwards to think about what we wanted from our marriage. How to move forward.” She shook her head, her face flushed with anger. “But things didn’t get better. You didn’t try to redeem yourself. You chose to cheat on me, or ‘almost’ cheat on me, and miss the Orchid Ball. You’reinsaneif you thought I would stay married to you.”
I started to panic. This wasn’t going well at all. “I don’t know what I’ll do without you,” I blurted out.
She was unmoved. “You texted Madison that you’d forgotten who you really were after you married me. Now you can feel free to find that person again. And, hell, knock yourself out. You can even sign these papers and then marryMadslike you were supposed to in the first place. At least your horrid mother will finally be happy.”
“I don’t want to be with Madison. I want to be with you.” I leaned forward. “And I should have protected you from my mother and Olive from day one. I’m so damn sorry, Carrie.”
“You came to both of those decisions way too late. There’s literally no chance that I’ll stay married to you. None.”
I gaped at her. She was serious. It seemed like my marriage was really over. And it was because of my stupidity.
“Goodbye, Thatcher.” She stood up and pulled her wedding and engagement rings off her finger. She reached over and set them on the table in front of me. “Good luck.” She turned to walk out the door.
I stared after her before I came to my senses. “Is that it?That’show you end a five-year marriage?”
She turned to face me once more. “I didn’t end the marriage. You did.” She gave me a wan smile. “Congratulations, Thatcher. You’ve done the thing you feared the most. You’ve turned into your father.”
I winced, feeling those words like a gut punch.
With that she turned and walked out of the mediation room.
“Carrie!” I ran after her even though both of the lawyers and the mediator were protesting behind me. I caught up to her as she was about to get in her car. “Please, Carrie. Please listen. I’ll do anything.Anything!”
She didn’t answer. Instead, she got in her car and started backing out of her parking spot. Her headlights flashed across me, and then she was gone.
The sky had turned dark while we were in mediation, and the wind had picked up. A storm was coming, and it matched the way I was feeling inside.
I sat down on the curb outside the mediator’s office. My lawyer gave me an awkward pat on the shoulder as he walked past me. I barely felt it.
As the rain started to fall, I put my head in my hands. Carrie was right. Whether I had fucked Madison or not, I was just as bad as Fletcher Caldwell had been. Hell, maybe I was worse. He hadn’t cared at all about the women he’d been with. He hadn’t been invested emotionally. I’d given Madison all the love and attention that should have been Carrie’s for months. Months!
There was nothing I could do now. I’d begun to truly realize just how special Carrie was—right as she divorced me.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Carrie
