Page 69 of Second Chance Husband

Anger slammed into me. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

“That’s what I said. I don’t know what all their plans were, but they can work on them together. By themselves. I threatened restraining orders.”

“Damn straight,” I shouted, so fucking proud of her.

“I should have done it a long time ago. But I was so worried I’d screw something up. And it was hard to stand up to my mom. She might’ve been a terrible mother in some respects, but she did take care of me.”

“That’s like me saying because my dad kept us fed and housed that he was a good father when he was rarely around. Or the fact that my mother only showed up when she needed something. We don’t have good parents, Paisley.”

“I know that. You know that. But I’m not my mother. When are you going to realize that you are not your parents?”

I ran my hands over my face, even as the snow began to come down harder. Little flakes landed on her eyelashes, and I wanted to wipe them away, to keep her warm. But I had a feeling if I tried to do anything but tell her the absolute truth, she wouldn’t let me.

Relief and worry warred within me. After so many years, I needed to tell her. About how cowardly I had been. Even trying to protect the woman that I loved. Even as the fear had been too much.

“You don’t get to leave. You left before, and I’m done. We’re going to talk this out. We got married because we loved each other. Yes, it was rash and it was quick and it might not have worked out anyway, but you just picked up everything and left. And I was so busy trying not to fall in love with you again this time, that I let it happen. I ignored everything that happened before so that way we would just not deal with the consequences or anything complicated. And I don’t want to be that way. Talk to me.”

“You are everything, Paisley.”

“But I wasn’t enough.”

“Fuck that. You were everything. You were going to take over the world. Look at you now? You’ve been on the cover of Forbes. Time Magazine. You’re literally one of the most powerful people in the world.”

“Not really. I just have some good press sometimes. And as you’ve seen recently, I don’t have good press all the time. I’m not powerful in the world but I do have power within my small circles. That’s why not being able to have any power in my personal life is killing me.”

“And I’m sorry for that. I’m sorry for being such a jackass.”

“But why? Why did you leave?”

“Because you deserve more than some high school chemistry teacher. We were trying to figure out our jobs and our times to see each other, and I was just trying to find a place that was going to give me medical insurance.”

She took a step back, nearly sliding on the now slushy ice that was beneath her shoes.

“Come inside. We’re going to catch frostbite.”

The storm began to rage on, and she just stood there, staring at me.

“How could you think so little of yourself? How could you think I would think so little of you?”

“It wasn’t just that. I know you didn’t think that. But you could. There were so many opportunities for you. Opportunities you took. But you were afraid to go on those trips because you didn’t want to leave me behind. And I didn’t want to be the person you resented.”

“And you didn’t let me have that choice. You took it all away because you thought I would resent you? I resent you now for leaving me. For breaking my heart. You broke me, August. I’ve never loved anyone else. Including the other man I married. Anyone else was always in comparison to you, and you thought you weren’t good enough? What did you think of me if you thought I would even contemplate that?”

“I’m sorry. I know I’m wrong. I know I was wrong.”

My voice broke as I spoke, and it had nothing to do with the freezing temperatures. Instead, she just stood there, shivering.

“What else? What did my mom do?”

“You don’t need to hear that, Paisley.”

“Fuck off. Tell me. I deserve to know. I’ve already cut my mother out of my life, something I should have done long ago. But what else did she do? Tell me, August Cassidy.”

“She was constantly trying to marry you off. To those other businessmen? Like she did with Jacob?”

“And? I knew what she was doing. She had been trying since I was a teenager. It was disgusting.”

“Well, do you remember the Jefferson Company?”

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