Page 56 of Between Our Hearts

She recovered her step. “Iambeing honest. I’m not having an affair.” Her voice raised to near yelling. “I can explain everything. I was going to show you tonight after dinner.”

Itchiness ran under his dress clothes, and he wanted to rip them off. “I don’t even know if I can believe you now.”

“Why not?” Her question was strained.

“Because you’ve obviously been lying, so why not lie about this too?”

Her eyes watered as her jaw worked soundlessly, and part of himalmostgave in—almost wrapped her in his arms.

“I need to go. I can’t”—he averted his eyes—“I can’t look at you right now.”

Sadie was wordless as her white ballet flats took a timid step back.

“I think,” he said to the sidewalk below his feet, “maybe you shouldn’t come home tonight.”

He heard the way his words hit her, heard her pained breath before her objection. “But we’re supposed to have a family day tomorrow after the farmer’s market. It’s Sunday. Lottie will miss me.”

The fact that she’d brought up the one day that was supposed to be his made everything in him streak aggressively hot. Later, he’d rationalize his words as fair because at that moment he’d been too wrecked not to try and even the score by lashing out.

“Honestly, she probably won’t even notice. You’re so rarely home. Wherever you’ve been going to escape us, you can go there tomorrow.”

?Chapter 29?

Sadie numbly watched her husband stalk to his truck, hugging her arms around her gnarled stomach. Tears tugged at the corners of her eyes, stinging the bridge of her nose and threatening to relinquish themselves to gravity. They wouldn’t have even had this argument if she’d been strong enough to drive him to Lake Trail Park or any of the other parks last Saturday instead of taking the easy way out and joining him and Lottie for pancakes.

Her chest wouldn’t feel ripped to shreds if she’d let herself bleed in front of him. If she trusted that he’d still want to wrap his arms around her and tell her he loved her. If she believed that the darkness inside of her wasn’t so all-consuming that they couldn’t survive it.

If she believed inthem.

Cool determination settled over her flushed skin before she realized she was moving. All her muscles coordinated to sprint across the parking lot. Only, in the second row of cars, a shiny red Lamborghini screeched to a halt inches before cutting her down at the knees. Her eyes darted to the sleek sports car briefly before flicking back up to Clark’s exiting truck pulling onto the street.

She pivoted, ready to run back into the restaurant to grab her phone where she’d left it in her suit jacket pocket when a familiar voice caught her.

“Dr. Carmichael.You of all people should know to be more careful. I could have easily broken your leg.”

Josh’s cropped blond head stuck out of the open window of the Lamborghini, a smug smile tugging at his lips. Beside him, a gorgeous black-haired woman was typing on her phone, ignoring their interaction.

Every single cell in Sadie’s body wanted to scream at this man. If the daily emotional strain of trying to swim upriver wasn’t enough, after a year of loss and an ever-fraying relationship with her husband, her strength was splintering. A visceral part of her wanted to kick the hood of his car like the supposed insane person she’d been telling herself she was.

Only . . .

Staring down at this chauvinist jerk, who was going out of his way to make things harder on her, her actions seemed guilelessly benign.

How she had responded to the trauma of losing her unborn children wasn’t crazy. It might not have been the most healthy—spending time in the depths of gut-wrenching grief alone, unintentionally beautifying Northwood—but it didn’t make her mentally unstable. It had been how she’d responded to insurmountable pain in a vulnerable state.

The only thing that mattered right now was explaining that to Clark—showing him where she’d been and what she’d done. The plan had been to make a few detours on the way home after dinner, but now she needed to go home and convince him to come with her. Her spine straightened as her shoulders took their usual stance.

If there was one thing she excelled at, it was tenacity.

Clark would understand once she explained everything. He had to.

An intentional, deep breath pulled into her lungs as she stepped out of the way of the car. “Dr. Arnold, it’s nice to see you spending some timeoutsideof the OR for once. Excuse me.”

Sadie didn’t wait for a response as she turned and strode back into the restaurant. She made quick excuses before being back in the parking lot minutes later. Looking for the blue sedan she’d called to take her home, she noticed Josh’s flashy Lamborghini parked up front by the valet—with one of its tires completely flat.

This hyena-like laugh overtook her body before hearing her name being called from twenty feet away. In the hired car, the momentary reprieve she’d been given by seeing Josh get his cosmic comeuppance by way of a flat tire evaporated as the miles to her house decreased. Tension twined down the rod of her spine, seizing to a point of pain when her phone rang with Parker’s number.

“Sadie, what happened? Where are you? Clark barely spoke to me, except to thank me for watching Lottie. He basically handed me my keys and shoes and shoved me out the door. What’s going on?”

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