Page 71 of Marriage (Red, White &) Blues

And I ended up shouting, “She touched your arm.Three times. Then she left it there andyoulet her!”

“Gloria, listen to yourself. I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“If you can’t see what your mother…” I bit back the sniffle. “I’m going for a walk. I need to figure some things out.”

“Figure things out? What things?”

“Just things. Enjoy the food.”

“Enjoy thefood? Give me a sec to change. I’ll come with.”

“No need. I think I’d rather go alone.”

“Glory, please…”

“No, Blake. I want to go alone.”

When he dropped his head, I knew he was giving in before he spoke. “Okay, sweetheart. Go for your walk.”

“Thank you.” I walked over to the closet to find my sneakers.

After tying them on, as I slipped out the door, he said, “I love you.”

Okay, I hated this feeling. But he expected me to believe that he had no idea his mom was trying to set him up?

The sad part was I didn’t even end up going on that walk—unless you counted walking to the bench in the back garden and plopping down on the seat. A seat where I stayed planted with my feet up, knees bent for use as a chin prop, for a good hour or more.

I had no job in Vermont.

I had no friends in Vermont.

Ididhave a husband, but part of me wondered for how long.

With my eyes closed, I listened to the hum from the insects and just thought about everything until the chill from the breeze that drifted down from the mountains dropped the temperature a bit too low for my liking.

Blake sat inside the living room on the sofa. No TV. Just him with his head hanging, looking ten kinds of forlorn. “Hey,” I said and he whipped his head up.

“Hey,” he said back.

“Listen, I?—”

“I messed up,” he said then, cutting me off. “Morgan wanted to catch up and sometimes we fall back into old habits.”

“Morgan is an old habit?” I asked.

“She’s a Richards. Old money. Another powerful family. We dated before I went off to Harvard. It wasn’t serious and she broke up with me for some CEO Last I’d heard they got married.” He sighed.

“She’smarried?”

“Not anymore. I’m sorry, babe.”

The defeat in his words broke my heart. I loved this man. Iromance novelloved the man and couldn’t let this go on. I walked over to the sofa and sat down next to him, dropping my head on his shoulder.

The longer we sat not speaking—God, this sucked.Gah! “My life started the day I met you,” I admitted, something I’d said before but definitely deserved repeating.

“But?” he asked.

“No but.”

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