Chapter Twenty
“Can I seeyou sometime soon? I really need to talk to you.” Phil had waylaid Sierra as she was leaving the hospital. “Tonight? Or now, if you’d rather.”
“Why?” Why hadn’t he left town yet? He’d been in Marietta over two weeks and hadn’t shown any sign of leaving.
“I’d like to talk to you without Connor around.”
“Again, why? What do you have to say that Connor can’t hear?”
He sighed. “I’m leaving town soon and I need to talk to you before I do. Preferably alone, but I can do it with him there if you want. I think you’d rather not have him present, though.”
“You mean you’d rather be alone.”
Phil hadn’t said anything to her about getting back together. She’d begun to wonder if he would. Because like Sam had said, everything he’d done said he wanted her back.
“Yes, I would. It’s hard to pour my heart out to you with your boyfriend sitting beside you glaring at me like he’s one step away from pulverizing me.”
“There’s no point in ‘pouring your heart out,’ Phil. We’re divorced. We’re done. Over. Finito.”
He’d followed her to her car and now leaned against the driver’s door, blocking her access.
“Please, Sierra. I’d like to explain what happened.”
“You mean with our marriage? After all these months? I know what happened. You had an affair, at least one, possibly more. You fell in love with the other woman, asked for a divorce and got it. Now that what’s-her-name has dumped you, you figure you’ll try your luck with me. But I’m no longer the doormat you were married to.”
He actually laughed. “You were never a doormat. That’s not exactly how it happened. Please, let me explain.”
“And then you’ll go home and leave me alone?”
“If that’s what you want.”
“Fine. Let’s get it over with. You can follow me.”
As she drove to her apartment she wondered why she’s agreed to see Phil. She didn’t want to get back together with a man who’d betrayed her and broken her heart. Why hadn’t she told him to go to hell when he first came to town? But she hadn’t and if this would get him to leave town maybe Connor would believe her when she said she wasn’t ready to live with him but that had nothing to do with her ex-husband. That would probably sit better with him if the ex-husband in question had left town.
Phil was right behind her when she opened her apartment door. She walked in, tossed her keys and purse on the coffee table and hung her jacket on a peg by the door. Turning to Phil, she said, “I’m listening.”
“Can we sit down?” He took off his jacket and draped it over a chair.
She motioned to the couch and they both took a seat. She didn’t say anything. He was the one who wanted to talk.
“I still love you, Sierra. I never stopped. Tamera was a mistake.”
“Funny. You didn’t think she was a mistake until she dumped you.”
“She didn’t dump me. I broke things off with her.”
That surprised her but for whatever reason, she believed him. “Why?”
“Because I realized I was a stupid fool who’d never stopped loving you. We had some problems—mostly my fault—but instead of trying to fix them, I left.”
“You didn’t simply leave. You’re forgetting you had an affair while we were married. Was it the only one? Don’t lie to me, Phil.” Not that it made any difference but she wanted to know how long she’d been so blind. She honestly hadn’t thought Phil would cheat on her. Until he did.
“She was the only one. I’ve regretted what I did, regretted losing you every day since.”
“Bullshit. If that was true, why the long wait before you wanted to finalize the divorce? We were separated for months before you decided to end it. To end us.”
Thank God he had ended it. Otherwise she might very well have gone back to him. And been miserable because she knew she couldn’t trust him.
