Page 9 of The Summer that Changed Everything

Until now.

Again, he wondered why she was coming back. She had to be a glutton for punishment. Or was she out for revenge against the people here who should’ve been kinder but were so shocked and frantic over her father’s crimes they couldn’t help punishing her—to some extent, anyway—along with him?

His phone went off. Setting the lawn edger he’d just used against the side of the house, he dug his cell out of his pocket—and cursed when he saw that it was his soon-to-be ex. Christina had changed so much since the day he met her. He still wondered how he’d been so easily duped. Yes, she was a beautiful woman, but he’d always considered himself smarter than to be fooled by a pretty face.

Well, she was a lot more than a pretty face. It was her poise, her quick wit, her gregarious nature and her adventurous spirit that’d drawn him in. It wasn’t until they were married that he encountered her darker side. She soon became so demanding there wasn’t any way to satisfy her. She’d make her expectations clear, he’d do his best to meet them, thinking that was the only way to find peace, and then she’d just raise her expectations again. In the end, it’d felt like she was devouring his very soul.

He considered ignoring the call. He needed to finish gathering his tools so he could get off the property in case Lucy arrived. Let Christina scream at his voice mail. Then he could text her back, thus avoiding what was sure to be an emotionally charged conversation—because they all were.

Except she didn’t leave a message. She just kept calling him.

Steeling himself against the anger and irritation that welled up, he hit the Talk button. “’Lo?”

“Whoa! You answered?” she said.

Ignoring the accusation in her voice, he cut right to the point. “What can I do for you, Christina?”

“I heard you’re in North Hampton Beach...”

Someone at the company must’ve told her. She used to work for Wagner Business Solutions—that was where they’d met. But she’d alienated so many people over the years, he was surprised she still had a friend there who would speak to her. “And that’s of interest to you because...”

“You’ve told me a lot about that place.”

He still didn’t get it. “And?”

“God, you’ve gotten prickly!”

“We’re in the middle of a divorce,” he reminded her. “People who divorce usually aren’t on the best of terms.”

“That doesn’t mean we can’t be friends.”

“Friends?”he echoed.

“Look, I’ll be having your baby in seven months. Do you really want to give up on our relationship? Our biggest problem was all the time you had to devote to your work and your family. You never knew where to draw the line.”

That hadn’t been their biggest problem; it had only been one of them. And he’d been willing to compromise, as much as he could. But every time he took a step in the direction she wanted, she pushed him to take another. If he wasn’t free 24/7 to be at her beck and call, she wouldn’t be happy. “I still have the same job,” he said blandly.

“But you’re taking the summer off, right? Why don’t I come join you and... and we can try to rebuild what we once had—for the sake of our child?”

For the sake of our child...Everything she said was manipulative. She knew refusing a plea like that would make him feel terrible.

But he wasn’t going to make that mistake again. When he’d agreed to reconcile on two other occasions, it hadn’t worked. She’d already proved she wasn’t willing to put forth the effort necessary to change anything. She wantedhimto be the one to please her, but that would require sacrificing his own judgment in favor of hers in every instance—becoming a mindless drone who believed only what she told him to believe and did only what she told him to do. What she wanted was control ofeverything, her way every time, and that was the one thing he couldn’t give her.

Closing his eyes, he chuckled mirthlessly while he imagined the summer with Christina in town. There was no way he wanted any memory of her attached to this place.

And even if he didn’t feel that protective of North HamptonBeach, reconciling with her would be like getting back into a car with a drunk driver who was already careening out of control. It would be one hell of a ride—and then they’d crash, and he’d have even more healing and rebuilding to do.

“I wish I could do that, but I can’t.” He’d lost too much of himself already.

His reply met with silence.Displeasedsilence.Stubbornsilence. At this point, he knew the conversation would go one of two ways. She would either start screaming that he was solely responsible for the failure of their marriage, or she’d try to convince him to come back to her. She never listened to what anyone said, never accepted a reality she didn’t like—she always had to push for more. And because she was carrying his baby, she had incredible leverage over him. She knew how important it was to him that he be part of his child’s life, knew this would enable her to retain a certain amount of control.

“Don’t you remember what it was like in the beginning?” she asked, cajolingly. “It could be that good again.”

Except it couldn’t be. That was an illusion. A lyric from a Taylor Swift song came to mind—something about a nightmare being dressed as a daydream. “That ship has sailed, Christina. We’re no good together. We just need to figure out a way to move on with mutual respect and kindness.”

“You don’t think I’ve shown you the proper respect?” she snapped.

When she got angry, she didn’t show anyone respect. She could be absolutely ruthless one minute only to shrug it off the next. That she didn’t already know that about herself stunned him. But she was the least self-aware person he’d ever met, always blamed the other party for provoking her instead of taking responsibility for the cruel things she said and did.

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