Page 64 of (Un)Planned

I exhaled slowly. “I want to apologize.”

Natalie wasn’t expecting that, because she flinched like she’d been struck. She shook her head. “I’m sorry, what?”

“I’m sorry, Nat,” I repeated. “I’ve been holding onto this resentment ever since we got divorced, and I’m finally realizing it was more about me than it ever was about you. Because of how I treated you while we were married.” I ran my hand over my hair and leaned forward on my desk. “I promised you that I would make you a priority, and it never happened. Instead, I buried myself in work, especially when our relationship started to get rocky.”

Natalie shifted in her heels and cleared her throat. “Wow, Theo. Thank you for that. I honestly didn’t know how much I needed to hear that until now.” She offered me a half-hearted smile. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry too. I let resentment get the better of me, and it became toxic.”

“We were never meant to work, no matter what we tried. I want you to be happy, Nat.” I glanced down at her finger, which now held a giant diamond ring. “It seems like you are?”

She nodded, tucking her chin to hide her blush. “I am. Blake. He’s a great guy.”

“Blake? What is this guy, some money manager from the eighties?” I joked.

Natalie smirked back at me. “Actually, no. He’s a real estate agent. He’s the one selling the house. When he did the first walk-through, he asked me out to dinner.” She looked down at her ring and smiled. “We’re getting married next month.” She winked at me. “You’ll be off the hook for any alimony checks.”

“Thank fuck for that,” I chuckled. “If I ever meet this guy, I’m shaking his hand.”

“What about you?” Natalie asked. “Any women in your life?”

I cleared my throat. “There was.”

She arched a manicured brow at me. “What did you do?”

“It doesn’t matter.” Natalie placed her hands on her hips, able to see through my lies. After years together, she knew my tells, having heard enough of my excuses to read the lies. With her staring at me, I finally snapped, unleashing the words I’d been holding back. “She was my assistant.”

“I knew it.” Natalie smirked. “That girl was too protective of you just to be an employee.”

“Yeah, well, we were trying to keep it under wraps because it was against the rules. But someone reported us, and the partners told me I’d have to transfer offices. They offered me a promotion to sweeten the deal. I wanted to say no, but Calla wouldn’t let me. She thought if I didn’t take the job, I’d start to resent her, that it was the wrong way to begin our lives together.”

“And that’s not how you feel?”

“I don’t know,” I answered honestly. “I see her logic, and I know why she feels that way, but every fiber of me is screaming that this is the wrong choice.” As the words fell from my tongue, the stronger they felt. “Ever since Calla left, I’ve just been going through the motions, not really living without her. I can live without this place, without this job. God knows I’ve worked my way up from nothing before. But none of it matters if she’s not there to celebrate with me.” I smirked to myself. “I’m such a fucking idiot.”

Natalie smiled at me. “Then why are you sitting in here talking to me? Go get her. And make sure you rehearse that speech a few times. Really get in there and grovel.”

“Shit,” I hissed. “I’ve got to go. I have to tell Jack–”

“Wait, Jack? As in Jack Fischer? The one from your old office?” She grimaced as she leaned back against the wall. “I didn’t know you were still working with him.”

“Why do you say it like that?”

“I don’t know,” she sighed. “Jack always gave me a bad feeling. He would say all the right things to your face, but there was always a hint of animosity there. Jealousy, maybe?” She shrugged. “I never liked that you two were so close, but it wasn’t my place to say.”

“And you were kind of hoping he’d screw me over?”

She smiled boldly at me. “Maybe a little.”

I shook my head. “Jack would never–”

But the rest of the words wouldn’t come. Looking back, he was the only person I told about Calla, the only one who knew the truth about us. I thought we’d been caught by accident, but what if that wasn’t the case? I never suspected that Jack would betray me, not when he was pushing me to take the risk the entire time.

Calla tried to warn me, to tell me that something about him made her uncomfortable, but I let our past speak for itself, not stopping to wonder about Jack’s motives and his shady antics.

“That motherfucker.”

Natalie headed toward the door. “I know that face, and I’m getting out of here before you confront Jack. But Theo? Do me a favor? Tell Calla you love her, because every day that you wait is another day she’s starting to move on. And that’s not what you want, is it?”

“Fuck that,” I growled. “We’re not done.”

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