Before Our Divorce I Discovered My Husband Had Loved Me All Along Chapter 06

Before Our Divorce I Discovered My Husband Had Loved Me All Along Chapter 06

His lips stopped mid-motion.

In the dark, he raised his head-I couldn’t read his face. His voice dropped cold, “What?”

“Divorce,” I repeated.

Click. The lamp came on.

He sat up straight. “Maya. We need to talk.”

I didn’t know what he wanted to discuss-assets, or keeping it from Grandpa. But I’d used up all my courage on those two words. I had nothing left for the details.

“Your lawyers can draft it. I’ll agree to everything.” I rolled over, my back to him.

I thought I heard him sigh, then he got up and left the room.

That night without him beside me, I slept poorly. I dreamed of high school. I hadn’t thought about

those days in years.

Maybe Ethan never asked because he didn’t want to feel awkward about not remembering me-or because he didn’t want to bring up Avery. Either way, he never mentioned it.

I wasn’t like him-famous and admired. And I wasn’t like Avery-universally loved. I was invisible.

When people found out I was a foster kid, the stares came. When they saw me drink tap water, the

smirks. I survived it all.

The breaking point was when I brought back a meal for my roommate on my meal card-five seventy-five. She gave me five. I said, “You owe me seventy-five cents.” And suddenly I was the

petty one.

“What do you expect? She grew up in the system. Every dollar’s a big deal to her.”

“Honestly? It makes sense nobody picked her. If she weren’t so weird, someone would’ve taken her

home by now.”

Whispers turned into exclusion. Cold shoulders. Group projects with no partner. Class photos where I stood at the edge.

Three years of it.

Ethan was the only crack of light in that dark tunnel. So when I ran into him again, I grabbed on-

desperate, greedy for whatever warmth he’d toss me.

The next few days, he left early and came back late. Locked himself in the study. We barely crossed paths.

At 3 a.m., thirsty, I got up for water. He was on the balcony, cigarette glowing between his fingers.

“Drafted the papers yet?” I asked.

He stubbed it out, gave me a long blank look, then walked past me without a word back to his study. The ashtray was overflowing.

I didn’t know what was eating him. And I was done guessing.