Chapter 16
DEVON
Putting the plates on the table, I stand back and survey the setup. I’ve been home a few hours, enough time to prep our meal and set the table ready for our anniversary dinner.
A timer beeps and I head back to the kitchen to check the roasting vegetables. I’ve gone for something simple and yet special. Pan seared salmon and roast vegetables with a lemon meringue pie for dessert.
Lizzi should be home soon. Traffic being light, it usually takes her forty minutes to make the drive from her office in the city to home. Of course, traffic in Sydney is never predictable and she could be as long as two hours.
I’m hoping for the forty. Dinner will keep, but it won’t be as nice as it is served fresh. The alarm panel on the kitchen wall chimes and I smile. Looks like my wishes are coming true.
Seems fitting to have good luck today.
It’s one year since we snuck off and got married on the shore of Lake Illawarra.
A year of living together. Lizzi working crazy hours and jumping through more hoops than anyone should have to in order to take control of her family’s company alongside her brother.
Gordon Foxworth finally bowed out of the business two months ago.
Good thing because I was about ready to knock the man out in spite of him being in his eighties.
And I can’t say I’m all that upset that six weeks after he was forced to step down, he had a stroke and has been confined to a bed ever since.
I’m a firm believer in Karma and the man brought his current situation on himself with all the manipulation and abuse he dished out to my wife over the years.
I raise the heat under the frypan I’ve had warming, and once it’s hot enough, place the salmon steaks, skin side down, in before checking the veg again. All looks good and I’m more than pleased with myself about our meal.
We’ve taken turns cooking over the last year, and if one of us isn’t home at dinner time, the other grabs takeout and heads to wherever the work is happening. The routine is comforting. And reassuring. Especially when the start of our marriage was marred by fighting and threats.
I soon put a stop to that. Although, I did it with Lizzi beside me, not behind me. The woman who demanded I fuck her our first night together has shown her face a lot more than the one who meekly came down the stairs our first morning.
I love all sides of Lizzi and today is the day I tell her.
We’ve kept our feelings to ourselves. Physically we don’t hold back, but emotionally…yeah, neither of us has stepped forward to reveal how we feel.
I’m pretty sure I’ve loved Lizzi from the first time I saw her. Even with another man’s ring on her finger. Now the ring on her finger is mine. And that’s the way it’s going to stay.
“Hi, honey, I’m home!”
I smile. It might seem stupid and cliche and I know we’re both joking when we come home and call that out, but I love to do it or hear it.
“Hey.” Lizzi enters the kitchen and stops. “Oh. You cooked dinner?”
“Yep.” I study her. Something isn’t right. I give the food a quick glance then head around the island and stop in front of her. “You okay?”
“What?” Her head shakes a little. “Yes. Sorry. I just didn’t expect…”
I follow her gaze. “It’s just salmon and roast vegetables.” I don’t know why I’m trying to downplay it. It is a special meal for a special day, and I can’t work out where her head is at. Has she forgotten what today is?
“Can I help?”
“No. Go get changed and meet me at the table.”
“Okay.”
The fact she doesn’t argue and just turns and leaves has me even more concerned. With a frown, I go back to our meal and finish getting it ready. The fish is almost done so I pull the roasting pan from the oven and take it to the table. Placing it on the hot pad, I smile and return to the kitchen.
I’m not one for fancy but I couldn’t help pulling out all the stops for tonight. Taking the frypan off the heat, I head back to the table and place a piece of salmon on each plate. All that’s left is the wine. I’ve got Lizzi’s favorite white chilling in the fridge.
By the time I’ve dumped the frypan in the sink, grabbed the wine, and returned to the table, Lizzi is standing behind a chair.
“This looks fancy.” Her gaze meets mine. The fear that I see has my instincts on alert. “Um…I have…”
I hate the reappearance of timid Lizzi. Hate it more than I can say, and it pisses me off that something or someone has brought her back. “Talk to me.”
“Um…” she lifts her hand and for the first time I notice the papers she’s holding.
“What are those?” In my gut I know. It’s what we talked about before we’d said I do.
“I had the company lawyer—”
“Stop!” I reach over and snatch the papers from her hand. Holding them up between us, I ask, “Do you want this? Don’t lie, don’t tell me what you think I want to hear. Answer me honestly. Do you want me to sign these?”
She jumps when I punctuate the final word by slapping the bundle against the table. “We said—”
“I don’t care what we said. That was a year ago. Things have changed.”
“Have they?”
“Yes.” I pull in a deep breath and try to calm the fear and anger rising inside me. But the only way to do that is to get rid of these papers. Holding the bundle up, I say, “This is what I think about these,” and rip them in two.
“Devon!” Lizzi steps back, her eyes bouncing from mine to the torn papers and back again. “You don’t want to get divorced?”
“No. Hell no.” I drop the papers on the floor and step over them, crowd her until she takes a step back, and I keep going until she’s pressed against the wall. “I don’t want a divorce. I want to stay married to you. I want to have babies with you. I want to spend my life with you.”
She remains quiet and our dinner is getting colder by the second but not as cold as my heart.
“Lizzi. Talk to me,” I beg.
“I hate my job.”
“Oh.” Those aren’t the words I expected to hear. “Okay.”
“I hate going there.” She licks her lips. “I love being here so much, it makes it worse. I thought if we got a divorce like we said, then I could go back to my house. Go on with my life and not know how much better it is in yours.”
“Ah, Lizzi, this isn’t my life. It’s ours. And if you hate your job so much, quit. Edward will understand.”
“I want to have a family.”
I smile. “Then you quit your job and stay home with our kids.”
“We don’t have any kids.”
My smile turns predatory. “We’ll get on that right away.”
“You don’t want to divorce me?” Her question comes out softly, the edges wobbling with insecurity, and I hate the fear in her eyes.
“No. I don’t.” I cradle her face in my palms. “I love you. If we weren’t already married, I’d ask you to marry me.”
“I didn’t believe you when you said it before.”
“No. But then I didn’t quite believe it myself.” I smile and press my forehead to hers. “I’ve loved every second of our life together so far and I’m hoping to continue that life and add to it. I want to see my love for you running around in the form of a mini you or me.”
“I love you too.” Her eyes close. “I was so scared you would sign those papers. I didn’t want you to. I hated having them drawn up but we made a deal and I thought…”
“I get it. We haven’t been quite as honest with each other as we promised we would.”
“No. We haven’t.”
“New deal. From now on, we tell each other every day how we feel. And we never, ever go to bed angry. We stay awake and work our shit out because the thought of going to bed without holding you makes me want to smash things.”
“I found a new house.”
Her words might seem like they’re out of left field but they aren’t. We’ve talked on and off about buying a new property to flip. “Where and how much?”
“It’s free.”
Pulling back, I look at her in question.
“I want to flip my house then sell it.”
Her house. The one she refused to sell before now. The one she was holding on to just in case. “Done. Call in sick tomorrow and we’ll go over and make a plan.”
“I’ll tell Edward he needs to find a replacement for me too.”
I grin. “Yes. Do that. But later.” I grab her hand and pull her away from the wall. “First, we’ve got an anniversary dinner to attend.”