Chapter 3

The next morning, I had just texted the lawyer to start drafting the divorce agreement.

Then my phone wouldn't stop lighting up.

A dozen messages, all from Zelda Pruitt.

"So you're Reuben's wife. I'm sorry we had to meet like this."

"I think you've probably figured it out by now. The only person Reuben loves is me. With you, it was only ever obligation. Honestly, he got tired of you a long time ago."

"Reuben promised he'd give me a wedding. If it's possible, I'd like you to leave on your own."

Right after that she sent a photo of a diamond ring, the receipt showing a seven-figure price.

"Bought this morning. Just to make me happy."

I stared at the photo for a long time, and without thinking, I touched my bare right hand.

When he proposed back then, he'd folded a ring out of scrap paper and slipped it onto my finger.

"Rings are for showing other people. It's the daily life you actually live. No point chasing after material things until you can't even afford to eat."

Later, when things got better, I brought it up with him, and all he said was, we made it through fine without a ring, didn't we.

Now, the thing I asked for and never got, she slid onto her finger without a second thought.

I switched off my phone and made myself a black coffee.

At some point Reuben had come home. He wrapped his arms around me from behind.

"You always hated anything bitter. Since when do you drink coffee?"

He startled me. I shoved him off hard.

He stumbled back a couple of steps but didn't get angry. He just gave a soft laugh. "Still not over it?"

Like all we'd done was have a fight.

I looked at the faint red marks on his neck, my voice rough.

"Let's get divorced."

Reuben frowned, a trace of impatience creeping in.

"Rachel, pulling the divorce act stopped being funny a while ago."

He walked over and sat down on the couch behind him, crossing his legs.

"I admit I've fallen for Zelda. But that's not all my fault."

"After we got married, it was like you changed. Every day it was bills, the mortgage, everything revolving around money. I was exhausted."

"But Zelda's warm, she's cheerful, she understands how hard I work. When I'm with her, I don't have a single worry."

Hearing that, it finally hit me.

I gave up the work I loved for him, poured everything I had into keeping this home, and that became his excuse for cheating.

Reuben pinched the bridge of his nose. "I already promised her a wedding."

He paused, then looked up at me, his eyes cold.

"I remember you've always had that wedding plan. Give it to Zelda. Call it compensation."

That wedding plan was the proudest work of my career. I'd stayed up for three months over it, reworked it through more than a dozen versions, all so it would come out exactly right.

I'd been saving it for my own wedding with Reuben.

Back when we got married we were too broke, and he'd talked me into holding off, said we'd do it properly once we had money.

Now we had money, and he wanted to use my work at his wedding with another woman.

The disgust rose in me and wouldn't stop.

"Why should I?"

He leaned back into the couch, completely indifferent.

"The plan's already done. Sitting there gathering dust. Might as well give it to Zelda, and we save a design fee on top of it."

"You don't know the cost of running a home until you run one. You haven't worked in a long time. It's about time you contributed something."

I watched him say it like it was the most reasonable thing in the world, and my heart sank, bit by bit.

So it turned out all his thrift and devotion to home only ever applied to me.

And in his eyes, everything I'd given wasn't giving at all. Just one more expense he could cross off whenever he liked.

"Fine."

If that's how it is, then we're square.