Page 25
Mom tilts her head. “It’s not?”
I smooth a hand down my sweater dress. “I’m here because I’m leaving Wyatt.”
Dad steps off the first stair and faces me, his brow creased. “What do you mean you’re leaving Wyatt?”
“Exactly what I said.” I square my shoulders. “It’s over between us.”
He steps toward me. “Is this because of the…difficulties you’ve had starting a family? Wyatt doesn’t care about that. He loves you.”
“He has a funny way of showing it,” I mutter under my breath. “And that’s not why I’m leaving him.”
“Then why are you?” Mom presses.
“He’s been cheating on me with his assistant.”
“Oh, sweetie…” Mom moves toward me and rests a gentle hand on my arm. “I’m so—”
“Why would you think that?” my father barks.
I pull away from my mom and meet his confused gaze.
“We just visited you in October. I saw with my own eyes how much Wyatt adores you.”
“He bought her a pair of earrings that cost over ten grand.”
Silence stretches through the room. I expect my dad to curse out Wyatt. Tell me how disappointed he is. Insist I deserve better.
But he doesn’t.
“Did you catch them together?” He crosses his arms over his chest. “Did he admit it?”
“Well, no. But—”
“So what if he bought his assistant jewelry?” Dad cuts in. “Your husband makes good money. Working as an assistant to the head football coach of a top college team is a stressful job. He could have just wanted to do something nice for her. How do you even know he’s the one who bought them for her?”
“Because I saw them in his underwear drawer!” I shout, my voice cracking. “They were the same earrings I fell in love with when we were in Nashville. When I found them, I stupidly assumed he’d bought them for me as a Christmas present. Instead, he gave them to her.”
“That still doesn’t mean—”
“When I accused him of sleeping with her, he didn’t deny it. You’d think if you were being accused of something you didn’t do, you’d come up with an explanation. But he didn’t.”
“What did he say?” Mom asks quietly.
I shake my head, my mind rewinding to that night.
I can still see Wyatt’s blank expression as I waited for him to say something. Anything. An explanation that didn’t involve him sleeping with another woman. But he couldn’t give me one.
So he didn’t say anything at all.
I think that’s what cut the deepest.
That he didn’t even see me as worthy of a response.
“Nothing,” I finally answer. “Wyatt said nothing.”
“Then you don’t know for certain he’s been unfaithful,” Dad argues. “There could be a perfectly innocent explanation.”
“And what kind of innocent explanation could he have for buying his assistant earrings that cost over ten grand?”