Page 48 of Winter at Wishington Bay
‘Oh, don’t remind me!’ I laughed, happy for the distraction.
‘I’m really glad we worked it out.’
I looked up at him, smiling, pleased to see his own shy smile appear. ‘Me too.’ I glanced back at the paperwork. ‘And I’m fine. Hopefully I’m getting to the end of all this malarkey now. It will be good to be able to move on properly.’
Nate frowned. ‘What is it?’
I pulled a face. ‘Divorce papers. My ex-husband hasn’t exactly been the most helpful so it’s rather dragged on. Of course, now he’s suddenly agreed to things and seems to want it all tied up as soon as possible so I’m guessing something’s changed in his life that he needs to be free of me for.’
‘Funny how that happens.’
‘Isn’t it? Anyway, I’m just happy the end seems to be in sight now.’
‘I’m hoping mine will be a bit less stressful than yours sounds to have been.’
‘Oh God, Nate. I’m so sorry. That was thoughtless. I didn’t mean to—’
He laid one large, lightly tanned hand over mine. ‘It’s all good. Really.’
I didn’t feel convinced and he gave a gentle squeeze of my hand. ‘Really. You don’t need to walk on eggshells with me. In fact, it’d be a relief if you didn’t. I feel like that’s how people have been forced to be around me for way too long because of my relationship with Serena. I didn’t see it before but it’s amazing how things become more clear when you put some space between you and a particular situation. I know it hasn’t been easy for my family and I feel bad about that.’
‘You shouldn’t. It’s only putting extra pressure on yourself and they wouldn’t want that, I’m sure. All they want, and all they’ll ever have wanted, is for you to be happy.’
‘Sounds so easy, doesn’t it? Two little words. Be happy.’
‘It does. And those who are make it look so simple. I know you haven’t met Holly in person but you said you Skype Gabe?’
‘Yep. Holly’s been there sometimes and I know what you mean. Everything looks easy and relaxed with them. I’m not sure I ever truly had that with Serena. I was so busy being completely head over heels and wanting to do everything that she wanted, just to make her happy, I kind of missed that things were perhaps a little more one sided than they should have been.’
‘I’m sure she loved you. She married you, after all,’ I smiled. I wasn’t entirely convinced that always went hand in hand, speaking from my own experience but then Nate thankfully hadn’t had generations of ancestors and long standing traditions to try to appease with his wedding.
‘Yep,’ he nodded, his mind clearly somewhere else. ‘I think she did. In her own way. At least for a while.’ He gave a little headshake. ‘You don’t need to hear all this.’
‘But I’d like to. If you want to tell me.’
He splayed out his hands on the cool granite worksurface. ‘There’s not much to tell really. Beautiful girl, completely smitten bloke. It all seemed fine to start with. I loved doing things for her, and got a kick out of it, making her happy. But then work sometimes meant I couldn’t make a particular party or I’d want to visit my parents instead of some friends of hers that I barely knew and really had nothing in common with. I’d always been close with my parents. Gabe and I both were, or are. Even living over here he seemed to do a better job of keeping that bond than I did living just down the road.’
‘Didn’t your wife get on with your family?’
‘I think they saw through things a hell of a lot quicker than I did, and that kind of got Serena’s back up.’
‘That she couldn’t get away with the same stuff as she did with you?’
‘Pretty much. Funnily enough they weren’t influenced by the beautiful face and hot body.’ He gave a small smile and I sucked in my stomach a little.
‘Mum and Dad are pretty easy-going and so’s Gabe, so I was surprised that things seemed strained when we all got together. Of course, I couldn’t see what they saw and just ended up resenting that they couldn’t accept my choice of partner.’
‘Not always that simple, is it?’
‘No,’ he said. ‘Gabe and I had a proper falling out one time he came home which of course, upset Mum and Dad.’
‘Oh dear.’
Nate ran a hand across his chin, a day’s dark growth shadowing the hard planes of his face. ‘Yeah. They rubbed each other up the wrong way from the start, him and Serena.’
‘Gabe’s so easy-going, usually.’
‘He is. I guess he’s also got pretty good at reading people. Assessing them. I’m sure it helps in his job. And Serena apparently made a pass at him quite early into our relationship.’
