Page 129 of Outside The Wire

And then he was gone, striding toward the kitchen where my mother was and leaving me a trembling, aching mess. I hated that he was able to do that. I was supposed to be upset and confused and maybe a little mad at him, but one look at him and I was weak in the knees. And when he called me Holly Bear?—

I sighed and shut the door, heading over to them. There was no point in trying to ignore what was happening here. My mother had set the whole thing up perfectly. I had no doubt Asher was in on it with her. They probably put their heads together to come up with the whole scheme. Of course, my mother would be on his side. She loved him from the moment she found out about him. He could do no wrong.

“Holly, don’t just stand there. Dinner’s ready.”

I looked at the table and frowned. “Mom, there are only two plates.”

“Oh, you know, it’s the darndest thing. I just remembered that your father and I have some…science speech to go to tonight.”

“Dad hates science.”

“Anti-science. That’s what I said.”

“You’re a terrible liar,” I grumbled.

She hurried over to me and kissed me on the cheek. “Don’t keep your man waiting,” she said, looking at me pointedly. “For the dinner or anything else. Listen to him, please. He loves you very much.”

I’d already lost her. It didn’t matter what I said at this point. My feelings were unimportant. She pinched my cheek and hurried past me to the front door, letting it slam behind her on the way out.

“Well,” I said, walking over to my chair. “I see you got my mother on your side.”

“I didn’t do anything,” he chuckled. “She called me up and arranged the whole thing. I believe I said,Yes, ma’am.”

“That sounds like her.” I took my seat across from him and was about to dish out the lasagna, but he beat me to it, grabbing the spatula first.

“Hand me your plate.”

“So bossy.”

He chuckled, grabbing my plate as I handed it to him. “You’re not going to make this easy on me, are you?”

“Should I?”

“No, probably not.”

I took the plate, full of my mother’s steaming lasagna. It really did smell delicious, but after I filled up on Oreos, I didn’t have much of an appetite. That, and my stomach was churning because of the man sitting across from me. But I picked up my fork and did a great impression of cutting lasagna and attempting to eat.

“I saw Jade today,” he said.

I dropped the fork with a clank, no longer interested in pretending. “How was she?”

“Holly,” he sighed. “You knew I had to see her. It was inevitable.”

I knew that, but that didn’t mean I had to like it. “I know it’s completely irrational. She’s your wife, whom you loved very much. It would be insane for you to not want to see her. But you were mine and now…”

His hand slid across the small table and he clasped mine in his. “I saw her because I had to. Because I needed to end this. I wanted her to know that there’s no chance of us ever being together again.”

Tears filled my eyes for the tenth time today and I blinked them back. “How can you say that? You might feel differently in a week or a month.”

“No, I won’t. I can promise you that.”

“You really can’t, Asher. You say that now, but that’s just because it was a shock. Once you remember all those good times you had together?—”

“Good times?” he laughed. “There weren’t good times. Not in the sense that you’re thinking of.”

“Asher—”

“Holly,” he sighed, tossing down the napkin that was on his lap. “There are some things I need to tell you, things that might clear this up a little more for you. I’m not proud of what happened, but I hope it makes you see things in a different light.”

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