43. Wentworth
FORTY-THREE
Wentworth
AFTER I KICKED MY MOTHER OUT, I SPENT THE REST OF the day doing everything I could to distract myself from the fact that I’m supposed to be picking Kait up for dinner in a few hours, even though the last time we talked, she made it perfectly clear that going out with me is the last thing she wants to do.
We were never going to work. I just figured it out before you did.
Fuck.
Standing up from the dining room table where I’m going over quarterly reports for the annual shareholder’s meeting for Hawthorne International, I swipe a rough hand over my face. Most of my weekly meetings can be held over Zoom. Even the monthly board meetings are Zoomable but the stockholder’s meetings once a year are non-negotiable. I have to be there in person because if I’m not, a lot of wealthy people start getting nervous and when enough wealthy people get nervous, it can shift an entire economy. Of all my jobs, CEO of Hawthorne International is my least favorite.
Deciding I’ve tortured myself enough for one day, I dig my phone out of my pocket and check the time. It’s just after six. Our dinner reservations are for eight. Resisting the urge to text Kait for some made up reason, I jam my phone back into my pocket, just as the elevator lets out its second ding for the day. Sure it’s my mother, here to harass me again, I turn away from the dining room table, mouth open to tell her she’s the last person on the face of this godforsaken planet that I would take marital advice from, and watch the doors slide open to see that it’s not my mother here to harass me again.
It's Tess.
And she’s not here to harass me.
I’m pretty sure, if the crescent wrench in her hand is any indication, that she’s here to murder me.
Stepping off the elevator and into the foyer, she sees me immediately. “ Married .” She growls it at me like an animal. Stalking toward me, she shakes her head on a nasty sound that I think is meant to be a laugh. “You’re fucking married ?”
Shit.
Of course Ryan told Tess what I told him. I can’t even be mad at him for it because what I told him makes me sound like a cheating piece of shit. I’d have done the same thing if I’d been in his shoes.
“No.” I hold up a hand, trying to stop her or at least slow her down. I’d have more luck stopping a runaway train. “I’m not married.”
Stopping a few feet in front of me, Tess lets out a disgusted snort. “So you didn’t tell Ryan that you’re married and that the woman in the drawings in your shop are of your wife?”
“I did. I did say that but I’m not.” Shaking my head, I drop my hand on a sigh. “I was married—years before I even met you—but I’m not anymore. Haven’t been for years.” Lifting my hand again, I gesture toward the living room. “Can we sit? I’ll explain everything. If you don’t like?—”
“If I don’t like what you have to say, this wrench—” She shows it to me, lifting it to shove it in my face. “is going straight up your ass.”
“Deal.” Holding up my hand again, I gesture her into the living room so I can follow behind her because Tess has always had an impulsive, hairpin temper and the last thing I need to deal with right now is a concussion. Following her, I wait for her to sit in the chair I’d sat in earlier before taking a seat on the couch.
“So?” She wags her wrench at me before she tosses it on the table. “Explain to me how you’re not married.”
“It’s simple,” I tell her with a shrug. “I met a woman when I was twenty-three. We got married and she left me less than two months later.”
She looks at me like nothing I just told her sounds even remotely simple. “Then why the fuck would you tell Ryan that you’re still married if you’re not?”
“Because I’m still in love with her,” I tell her plainly. “Because I’ve always been in love with her. Because signing those divorce papers was the last thing I wanted to do.” I don’t feel bad saying it out loud. Not to her because if anyone understands, it’s Tess. We both knew she was still in love with Declan when we were together and I knew that eventually they’d find their way back to each other, even if she didn’t.
When I say it, Tess’s expression softens and her entire body relaxes. “How long were you married?”
“Not long.” Looking away from her, I shake my head. “A few weeks. I went away on business and when I got back, she was gone.” It’s a condensed version of what happened and not entirely accurate but I don’t have the time and emotional bandwidth for much more. “All that was left of her was the ring I put on her finger and the divorce papers she left for me to sign.”
Still looking at me, this time like I’m a freshly kicked puppy, Tess sighs because she knows what it’s like to be left. “Did she at least give you a reason why?”
“The papers she left said irreconcilable differences ” I tell her and am rewarded with a disgusted snort.
“What the fuck does that even mean?” she asks before sliding further into her seat and lifting her legs to tuck them under her. Now that she doesn’t feel duty bound by girl code to kill me for my treachery, she can afford to relax.
“It means she changed her mind about being married to me,” I tell her with a shrug. “That she didn’t love me the way I loved her.” It’s been six years. Saying it out loud hurts more than it should.
Tess gives me another one of those snorts, this one more disbelieving that disgusted. “That can’t be the reason why.”
Hearing her say it tightens the back of my neck because any other reason would fall on me. It would mean Kait left because of something I did and even though it’s possible—hell, even probable—I have a hard time considering it because I wanted it to work. I tried to do everything right and I failed. “I don’t cheat. I don’t hit?—”
Tess jerks back in her seat like she got a whiff of something bad. “That’s not what I meant. I know you’d never …” Shaking her head, Tess sighs. “When Declan left me, it was because he’d gotten mixed up with Henley’s biological father, Troy Murphy. Dec’d done some things that he had to pay for and Troy made it clear that if he didn’t, he’d come after me.” Picking at a hole in the leg of her jeans, she gives me another disgusted snort. “It didn’t help that my father was there and pretty much convinced him that he was a lowlife piece of shit who didn’t deserve to be with me.” Looking up at me, she shakes her head. “So he left me.”
“What are you saying?” Something prickles across my scalp. “That someone made her leave?”
“I’m saying look at you, Went—” she holds up a hand on a how stupid are you? kind of laugh. “We’ve already established that you’re objectively hot. On top of that, you happen to be a pretty great guy. If I hadn’t already been in love with Declan when we met, there’s no way in hell I would’ve let you go.” She shakes her head, dropping her hand on a huff. “So, no—I don’t think this chick—whoever she is—left because she didn’t love you.” She says it like the possibility is too outlandish to even consider. “I think maybe something happened that made her think that leaving you was her only choice.”