Page 2 of Heal You
Not because they hadn’t decided on where to go but because Phil kept putting it off.Was that because he was planning to leave Jan for Anais?No.This just wasn’t something she could comprehend.
“I’m sorry, Jan.I told them they had the week to tell you, or I’d come to you myself.I thought he may have done the decent thing and come clean, but it seems not.”
Jan didn’t show it, but inside, she was slowly dying.Phil, her husband, had been having an affair with their employee?For what reason?Just…why?This has to be a mistake.“Can you give me a few minutes please?”
Gareth rose to his feet.“Of course.I’m sorry.This is a lot for you.”
“No, no.Take a seat, and I’ll be right back.”Jan composed herself and left her office.It would take her all of ten seconds to knock on Phil’s door, but she found herself taking her time.Was she worried that this was true?No, not at all.But she was trying to figure out how to run this by her husband without accusing him.Only, as she reached his door, she wasn’t sure it was possible to say this in any other way.
She poked her head around the door.“Do you have a minute?”
“For you?Always.”Phil smiled where he stood behind his desk, his hands braced against it as he studied floor plans for their most recent development.As Jan stepped inside the office and closed the door behind her, he said, “Did you bring the files for The Mews?”
“No, um…could you come to my office for a few minutes so we can clear something up?”Jan threw a thumb over her shoulder.“Gareth is in there, and I think he’s a little bit confused.”
As Jan watched her husband, the way he shifted uncomfortably and wrung his hands, her heart sunk further.“Jan, I?—”
“It’s true, isn’t it?”Jan’s voice boomed in her ears, her pulse hammering throughout her entire body.Shock was the first thing she felt, sheer humiliation the second.“Answer me!”
Phil visibly swallowed as he slowly lowered himself into his seat.“I wanted to tell you.I just didn’t know how.”
Jan took a step back and walked directly into the door.Her back connected with it, but it barely registered in her mind.“You’ve been sleeping with another woman…”
“I’m sorry.It was a mistake.”
Jan laughed weakly, staring back at a man she had spent so many years with…but now felt as though she didn’t know at all.“Was it a one-off?Were you drunk?”
Phil lowered his gaze to the desk strewn with their business plans.Their hard work and dedication.
“How long, Phil?”Jan dug her nails into the door, sure she would break them any second now.“How fucking long?!”
“A year, I don’t know.Maybe a little less.”
Jan pushed off the door, crossed the room, and braced her hands against Phil’s desk.“I want a divorce.”
“Wait, love.We can work this out.Nothing is lost.We just…have to work this out between us.I can’t lose you.”
“You’ve already lost me, Phil.The moment you even looked at that fucking woman out there was the moment you lost me.You’re now just realising it—that’s all.”Jan turned and walked away, glancing back over her shoulder.“Twenty-seven years together, and you ruin it all by dropping your fucking pants for your receptionist.”
“Jan!”
“Don’t.I’m not interested in anything you have to say.”Jan left the office and looked to her left.Anais sat at her desk, chancing a look over the top of her computer screen.“No need to hide.I know the truth.I hope you’ll beveryhappy together.”
She strode out of Phil’s office, determined not to break down until she was alone.Right now, she had Anais’ distraught husband sitting in her own office, and she would have to deal with it whether she wanted to or not.As she stopped outside her door, gathering herselfandher thoughts, Jan’s throat grew thick with emotion.What the hell was she supposed to say to Gareth?What the hell was she supposed to say to herself about all of this?God, she couldn’t begin to imagine the state she would be in later today.
With her shoulders pulled back and a quick check of her makeup in the barely visible reflection in the door, she walked back into her office and pressed her back to the door once it was closed.“I’m sorry, Gareth.I don’t know what to say to you.”
“Don’t apologise.This isn’t your fault.”
Wasn’t it?It was hard to believe anything else when her husband had found what he needed in another woman.Shouldn’t she have seen it coming?After all, they’d been going through marriage counselling recently.Perhaps Jan had pushed Phil into Anais’ arms simply because she had wanted counselling.“I…need to get my things together so I can leave.”
“Leave?”
“Mm.”Jan smiled as she rushed around her office and gathered what was visible to her.“I need to go home and pack some of my belongings.”
“You’re leaving him?”
Jan spun around and frowned.“You’renotleaving her?”
