Page 41 of Best Kept Vows

I knew that Luna and Aurora came from high Savannah society—the same one in which the Boone family traversed, though the Boones were not atthatlevel.

My mother-in-law did have a cook and staff at their mansion, so it wasn’t like I wasn’t used to those kinds of luxuries. Sebastian had asked me if I wanted live-in staff, and I’d looked at our house and laughed. We had four bedrooms and five baths—which wassufficientlylarge for our family. I had no desire to have ashow-offhome. We had a cleaning service that came once a week, and I did all the cooking and everything else.

After eating some of the best burgers of my life, I decided it was time to go home and face the music.

“I think you should think about couples therapy,” Luna suggested while we waited for my Uber.

“We see a family therapist every month,” Aurora announced. “It’s been invaluable for us—especially in the beginning when our older daughter…my stepdaughter was being manipulated by her mother to misbehave.”

I had thought about couples therapy, but I wasn’t sure if Sebastian would go for it.

“I’ll send you the therapist’s contact information,” Aurora offered. “Dr. Monica Ryan is amazing.”

I nodded nervously. “I…I feel like I need to fix myself before I can fixus. I need space, I think…I just don’t know how to get that.”

“I hear you.” Aurora patted my shoulder. “Look, if you need a place to get away once in a while or for a few nights or longer, I have an apartment close to Savannah Lace that’s fully furnished and sitting empty. I can give you a key.”

“I can’t stay at your place,” I objected.

“Why not?” Luna quipped. “No one else is there, and Aurora keeps trying to sell it, and then decides not to because someone ends up staying there. It was Stella a while back. And then Ginny when her marriage collapsed.”

Aurora chuckled. “It’s the Savannah Lace Women’s Shelter.”

I laughed at that. “I’ll…I’ll think about it.”

During the twenty-minute Uber drive home, I thought a lot about what I needed, and I knew that to save our marriage, we had to step away from it. And maybe therapy was not a bad idea.

CHAPTER 16

Sebastian

I’d just gotten out of the shower and put on my boxers when Lia entered our bedroom. She silently watched me as I put on joggers and a t-shirt, leaning against the closed door. The quiet was far worse than yelling—her silence filled every corner of the room, suffocating and heavy.

I finished dressing and looked at her. “You know I’m not interested in that woman.”

“Actually, Sebastian, I don’t know.” Her eyes reflected a sadness that wounded me.

“I didn’t?—”

“I know you didn’t sleep with her.” She sat down on our bed, her shoulders slumped. “I know you wouldn’t.”

I sat next to her. She was wearing a peach-colored sheath dress and tan heels. She looked good. Her hair was tied up, and her makeup was subtle.

Oh God, baby, don’t leave me.

“I’m sorry, Lia. You shouldn’t have had to see that.”

“No,” she said gently, voice tight with controlled emotion. “I shouldn’t have.”

“Lia—”

“You know, I thought we were on track again, we were having sex, and you were home for dinner and…I thought everything was fine, or at least it was going to be.” She played with the hem of her dress as she spoke. It was a nervous habit of hers.

“Itisfine,” I assured her.

She looked at me, and there were tears in her eyes. “Is it? Because hearing her ask you to have sex with her…it took me to a bad place.”

“Tell me.”

---