His mouth kept moving, words marching out one by one, orderly and smooth. Amandine couldn’t hear them over the buzzing in her head. Gavin hadn’t just gone to Houston for “damage control”, as Mark had put it. He’d been doing Catherine’s yard-work on their anniversary, and all the while Amandine had been waiting for him at La Mer.
At least people thought he’d been doing “damage control.” If they’d known the truth, they would’ve looked at her with something far worse than pity.
He stopped and peered at her. “Are you okay?”
“Yes,” she said automatically, out of habit. Then she realized she wasn’t okay. Not at all. “No. I’m not.”
“I’m sorry I missed dinner.”
“Gavin, ‘sorry’ isn’t going to cut it.”
“I know.” He sighed. “I’ve arranged for—”
“And I don’t want some damn present to make up for it either.” To her horror, her eyes started to sting with tears. She blinked them away. “I can’t believe you spent our anniversary with Catherine, rooting around in her garden, after telling me you’d spend it with me. You made it sound like whatever was in Houston was extremely urgent, but now I see that wasn’t the case. You just wanted to go there.”
“That’s not true. She was hysterical.”
“She has staff to take care of her.”
“She fired everyone. Bee called me because she was so worried.”
“So? It didn’t have to be you.”
“Who else could’ve gone? My mother? Ethan? You know how they feel about her. She’s my sister-in-law.”
Fury expanded inside Amandine like an exploding fireball. “First of all, no, she isn’t. Her marriage to Jacob was never valid,” she pointed out, doing her best to contain her anger. “And second, I’m your wife.”
“What would you have done in my place? I never thought you would be this cold. She’s your cousin. You were her maid of honor.”
“Don’t try to make this about me.” Her voice shook, and she took a slow, deep breath.
How could she have been in denial all this time? Gavin would never love her. He probably didn’t even want her love.
What she felt for him was never going to be enough to make their marriage work. It’d been three years, and she no longer knew how to act around him without feeling miserable. Her parents’ marriage had survived only because they’d been in love. Both of them. Her dad had never had any money. Most women would’ve left a husband like that within months, but her mother had stayed until the very end.
The only option available to Amandine was so obvious, so painful. “I’ll have my attorney call you.”
“What?” He stared at her. “What are you saying?”
“Something that should’ve been said a long time ago: I don’t think our marriage’s going to work.” She rose.
“Where are you going?”
“None of your business.”
He grabbed her wrist. “Sit down.”
“Let me go or I’ll make a scene.”
“Amandine,” he warned.
“Try me,” she said, a hair louder. “I’m not well-bred enough to give a shit.”
“Why are you doing this? You aren’t going to get anything by it.”
“Don’t worry. I remember our prenup.”
“That’s not what I meant.”