Key Lime Garden Inn （Captiva Island Book 1） #2
Daniel had done everything he could to talk her out of divorcing him.
Knowing how much she loved flowers, he'd bring her a new bouquet every week.
There were gifts of jewelry and weekly date nights at exclusive restaurants in the city.
He was his charming old self and was even able to convince her that she might have had something to do with his wandering eye.
She was always so busy with the kids, maybe she hadn’t had time to focus on her husband's needs.
She'd heard about men feeling neglected because their wives were too busy tending to the children.
The thought that she hadn't been a good wife was constantly on her mind.
As soon as she figured out where the cracks in their marriage were, filling them in would be her number one priority.
They did all the things people do to fix things. They regularly met with a marriage counselor and focused on communication. Their children needed them, but they made sure to keep the fires burning in the bedroom.
Learning how to make gourmet dinners and keep the house immaculate, Maggie had worked hard to please Daniel.
Hours studying everything she could about the politics of other countries and the price of gold was sure to impress her husband.
If she could make Daniel proud of her ability to converse with the people at his firm and keep herself as attractive as possible, he'd never stray again.
Countless hours doing yoga and Pilates, as well as running and dance classes had kept her in shape. Even when she was pregnant, she kept up with her exercise routine and didn't allow herself the indulgence of eating for two.
From the outside, everything about the Wheeler home and family looked flawless. Everyone was jealous of their seemingly perfect life, and that convinced Maggie that everything would be fine. She’d held tightly to that belief, and now it had come back to haunt her.
This time, there was no healing and no plan to work on their marriage. Maggie was hurt but somewhat surprised that she felt no tears forming. As the minutes passed, she realized what she mostly felt was resentment over her years of singular devotion to a man who didn't deserve it.
"Maggie, you and I are still young. Hell, we're not even fifty yet.
We got married way too young. I don't think we knew what we were doing.
We were babies. We should have been dating all kinds of people before we got tied down the way we did.
Listen, you can start a new life. I know it seems hard to imagine right now, but there is so much more adventure in your future.
You'll see. Eventually, you'll realize how much you've missed. "
Her anger building, she was suddenly sorry she was no longer holding his briefcase. She wanted to hit him with it.
"What am I supposed to say to that? Do you think I should thank you for this opportunity? Out with the old, in with the new? So, you want a new life? The old life doesn't work for you anymore? Now you want a new, probably younger woman? Who is she, anyway?"
She hated how cliché that sounded. Everything about this conversation felt like a scene from a soap opera. She was angry that her husband couldn't be more clever. Was it too much to ask for some originality?
"What does it matter who she is? You don't know her. I know this is difficult, but it can't come as a shock to you."
His last statement did shock her. Maybe to him, it didn't matter if she knew who the other woman was, but for Maggie, it meant worrying if their friends already knew.
Throwing his hands up in the air, he continued, "I swear you walk around with blinders on.
You're so busy trying to make our marriage look perfect that you refuse to see just how imperfect it is.
I'm sorry, Maggie. I don't know what else to say to you.
I know that I don't want this anymore. Not the job. Not the house. Not the marriage."
"How about the kids, Daniel? Do you still want them?"
"Stop it, Maggie. Of course, I want the kids.
Might I remind you they aren't children?
Divorce doesn't mean we're not a family.
I will always be their father, and you will always be their mother.
I promise you that our divorce doesn't have to get ugly.
I'm going to grab my clothes, and I'll get the rest later. I have a place to stay."
A place to stay seemed like an understatement at this point.
Daniel most likely would be going to his mistress.
Regardless, he was going, and that meant that this conversation was over.
With only a few minutes left to say what was on her mind, she tried to find something more but realized there was nothing.
Daniel went upstairs and Maggie got up from the sofa and walked into the kitchen.
Turning, she looked back at the living room and dining room.
Was it too soon to feel some comfort knowing that every inch of this house and the three acres of land would belong to her alone?
It was a relief knowing they had paid off the mortgage last year. At least that was something.
She was already working on the details of how she would make everything pretty again.
She would repaint the kitchen. It needed new paint.
Come to think of it, so did the outside of the house.
She’d always wanted to live in a yellow house and made a mental note to hire someone to do that right away.
She was tired of the gray, and the hydrangeas would look beautiful against the backdrop of the lighter color.
She ran her hands over the pen markings on the trim around the kitchen door. She had drawn a height line measuring her children’s growth for each year in different colors, one for each of her children. The memories and milestones in her life came flooding back, and she tried not to cry.
When she felt panic travel up from her chest to her throat, she pushed it back down with more redecorating ideas.
She would claim every memory and every celebration in their children's lives as her own and cut Daniel out of each image because she wasn't ready—and had no idea when or if she would ever be—to allow him to claim one more piece of her life.
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