Page 16 of Second Chance Husband

Maybe I hadn’t been as good about hiding my asshole self as I had thought.

She turned on her heel then and left, walking back to her car. It was still daylight out, though the sun was setting, but I watched her drive away, making sure she was safe. That was the least I could do.

Thankfully there was nobody else heading to their cars right now, nobody to witness that, so I got into my car and headed home, a sigh escaping me.

I pulled into my garage and brought my bag inside, knowing I needed to work.

I had finally moved on, and my fucking ex had ruined it again. Maybe that wasn’t fair to Paisley. Maybe it was my own fault. Or maybe I just needed to get better about being over the first woman that I had loved.

The only woman that I had loved.

What kind of complete asshole was I?

I set my things on the counter, then went to the dryer, remembering I hadn’t taken care of the laundry that morning since I had been running late.

I pulled out the thankfully dry sheets and went to the guest room. The guest room where Paisley had slept, leaving her scent all over the sheets. I had immediately stripped the bed once she had left, not needing her scent to remain there, but I was notoriously terrible at finishing the laundry, so it had taken me two cycles to get them clean. And now I made the bed, erasing her completely from this house. Too bad I couldn’t erase her from my life. Because she would always be there.

I didn’t know how she was going to handle dealing with the fallout of that divorce, or what my family thought about it because the girls had to know by now. The divorce would be public anyway, because her ex was that big of a deal, at least in these circles, but I shouldn’t care.

I should care about the fact that Dakota had just dumped me because she had seen my expression when I had looked at Paisley. Though I didn’t even know what that expression was. I didn’t love Paisley anymore. We hadn’t worked out, the divorce was long over, and she had been married and divorced since. I just hadn’t wanted her to get physically hurt. Not out alone and drunk. Because it was a stupid choice on her part, but it would have been selfish of me to have left her on her own in the state she was in.

But then I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to say or do in the moment.

Because Dakota had seen it, even though I hadn’t.

And now I was dealing with those consequences.

I finished making the bed, and then pulled out a beer, figuring I could just heat up leftovers for dinner. I sat down at my desk, sipped at my beer, and looked at my bag filled with papers I needed to grade.

I had work to do, a life to live, and I would apparently be doing it alone.

Which was better than the alternative. I’d been pretending to live a life that made sense. As if I could walk through life in my orderly way and not grow attachments to anything real. Again, pretending. And I had gotten far too good at it recently.

However, a small part of me reminded myself this was exactly what I had asked for. What I had wanted.

I had been the one to leave after all.

So I didn’t have a leg to stand on, even if it created my own situation, and I ended up being alone surrounded by others.

At least it was something I was good at. I had plenty of practice, after all.

Chapter Five

Paisley

Thankfully the headache from hell had only lasted a day. But now I had a brand-new headache.

One that might have something to do with my mother, but I was better off when I pushed that to the side and focused on my job, and not the fact my own mother hated me.

There were enough people out there with mother issues, I didn’t need to publicize mine.

As I signed the paper in front of me, I let out a breath at the familiar feeling. Because once again I was signing papers, but at least this didn’t have anything to do with my divorce.

At least I didn’t think so.

Two of my associates sat in front of me, each of them having worked hard through the ranks in order to be where they were. They were brilliant, hardworking, and were the best at what they did. I hired the best, and I also hired those who could get there but needed a little help. Because not everybody had the ability to pay for a four-year school or take time off when needed for certain jobs. I had single mothers, adults who were raising their younger siblings, I had widows who were getting full-time jobs for the first time in their lives because they had been stay-at-home moms. I had people who were changing careers and trying to find their path. I also had others who couldn’t afford retirement yet thanks to corporate greed, or the way that the world was working. I took everyone in that I could and found them a place to help us all survive in this world and thrive.

Only I didn’t feel like I was thriving right now.

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