Page 61 of Happy Is On Hiatus
Sharon was beside her, busy scribbling something down on her notepad, and Chris was shaking his head like he thought Nate had just signed his death sentence. But he’d do what Nate said in the end. Chris had always been Nate’s yes-man. Today wouldn’t be any different.
“I’ll continue paying for the girls’ cars, and I’ll move them over to my insurance,” Nate added.
Rita nodded. “What about their tuition? The 529 college savings accounts have our names as well as the girls’ names on them. We don’t have to liquidate those, do we?”
“No,” Nate said. “Leave those intact.”
“We can have Rita’s name removed from the accounts,” Chris stated evenly.
“That’s fine with me,” she said.
“No.” It was becoming Nate’s favorite word today. “She’s their mother. Her name stays on the account in case something happens to me.”
Why was he doing this? Why was he being so generous, giving in to her when the last two times she’d seen him, he’d been set on arguing this split between them?
“Well, that takes care of everything,” Sharon said. She picked up her papers and made a clacking sound against the table as she eased them into a neat pile. “My assistant will get this all typed up, and we’ll have a settlement agreement to you to review and sign by the end of the week.”
“We’ll need some time to review it and to make sure this is what we want to do,” Chris said, trying to salvage some room for Nate to change his mind.
Nate stood. He wore a dusky-gray suit with faint teal stripes. His shirt was a very light blue, his tie dark gray with blue polka dots. He straightened the knot of his tie and then smoothed his hand down its length. How many times had she watched him do that with different ties? It didn’t stop her from watching him at this moment.
“Can I talk to you outside for a minute, Rita?”
This man was her husband—he’d never had to ask to talk to her in this way before. After today, this was how it would be. He’d have to request her attention, and it was up to her whether she wanted to give it to him.
“Sure,” she said and closed her book. Picking it up and then grabbing her purse, she looked over to Sharon. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”
Sharon nodded. “Great.”
Rita walked away from the table without saying a word to Chris. Nate arrived at the door before her, and he opened it, stepped aside, and held it while she walked through. Once they were in the narrow walkway that would lead to the reception area of Sharon’s offices, he turned to face her.
“I owe you an apology,” he said.
She wanted to stop him because an apology wasn’t going to take away all the pain she’d endured. But something about the way he was looking at her imploringly kept her quiet.
“That day I came home and you were putting all my stuff out, you said I didn’t even have the decency to deny the accusations. Instead, I jumped on you about believing everything you heard.” He shrugged. “You were right.”
Rita released a breath she hadn’t been aware she was holding.
“Each time you confronted me about what I was doing, you were right.” He dragged both hands down his face and rolled his shoulders as if he were getting ready to do or say something big.
She gripped the handle of her purse and tried to steady her breathing, because for whatever reason, her heart had begun pounding in her chest.
“I’m not gonna stand here and offer you some excuse for why I did what ... why I was doing all that I did.” He shook his head again. “I thought about it last night, and I had all these words to say to you. All these scenarios that I was gonna apologize for, others I was going to provide explanations for. I was gonna say there were times when I wasn’t sure you were in love with me or in love with the idea of being married. But I realized, sitting across that table from you just now, that all this is my fault. If there was ever a time I felt insecure in our marriage or discontent, I should’ve been man enough to come to you.”
“I wish you would’ve,” she said honestly. “I thought we were fine.” Well, there’d been times when she knew that wasn’t true, and she probably should’ve said something then. Now it was too late.
“I know this was all on me. I’ll apologize again, but I accept that it might never ever be enough to heal the pain I’ve inflicted.” He clasped his hands together and did that thing where he pressed his lips together tightly because the words he wanted to say were overwhelming him emotionally.
At another time, in another life, she would’ve gone to him and touched her hand to his cheek. She would’ve assured him that everything was going to be fine, meaning that whatever was bringing him to the brink of emotion wasn’t necessary to express because she knew and she’d stand by him. Today she didn’t move.
“You burned my clothes. And I’m guessing Jemel slashed my tires with her ride-or-die self. I probably deserved both.” He smiled and shook his head. “I talked to the girls,” he added. “Apologized about the rent mix-up and told them all the things I’ve done over the years and asked for their forgiveness too.”
She nodded, feeling emotion welling up inside her as well. “Thank you for doing that. Taryn needed to hear it.” There were witnesses to her burning his clothes, but she wasn’t admitting anything about those tires.
“I’m not her favorite person right now, and you know that’s hard for me to swallow. I’m used to being her everything, and Necole’s too.” He waited a beat. “And yours too.”
Oh boy, she was gonna cry, and she so didn’t want to cry in front of this man. She didn’t want to give him one more tear, not ever again.
