Page 22

I grabbed her and carried her to the bed.
“Stop, Beth. Stop with the antics. You need to relax and get some rest. You’re upset; you’ve had too much to drink, and you were right. It’s late. I should have waited until the morning to have this conversation.”
“Noooo.” She sobbed.
“Yes, please, just go to bed. Get some rest, Beth. I’ll talk to you in the morning.”
“Please don’t go, Cas.”
“What?”
“Stay here. Hold me for the night. Please?” she asked and looked up at me with those teary, catlike green eyes.
I sighed.
“Beth, you forced me out of here and into the guest bedroom three months ago.”
“I don’t want to be alone. Just for the night, please.”
“Why didn’t you put this care into the marriage long before now, Beth?”
She sniffled.
“I’m sorry. I just always seem to be making so many mistakes.”
“Why try to go to counseling if you weren’t going to put the work in?”
“Maybe we could try it again? There’s got to be another doctor that we could see. A therapist who we could both relate to and feel comfortable with.”
“I don’t think it’s about who the therapist or doctor is, Beth. There are deeper issues that we have to address. An arranged marriage was the wrong thing for either of us. We’re both deeply passionate, emotional people with strong personalities. Forcing the two of us into something that our fathers wanted more than we did was the wrong move.”
“It didn’t have to be.”
“Do you remember the man you met, Beth? I’m nothing like him anymore.”
“But you’re even better. You’re the COO of a very large and prominent company. You have business constituents around the world. People know your name, and they respect you.”
“As Bethany Huffington-Bradwell’s husband.”
“That’s not true. People respect you and know who you are as your own person.”
“We were never on the same page, Beth. I don’t expect that to change now.”
“What does she have that I don’t?”
“Why do you keep making this about someone else?”
“I know that you have feelings for her. You don’t have to lie to me.”
“I’m not lying to you. This divorce was brought on by the fact that I want to be free. It’s time that I started living my life and stop living in the shadows of others.”
“What is it that you want?” she asked.
“To be happy.”
“You have millions in the bank, and you’re worth even more than that. How could you not be happy?”
“Happiness isn’t all about money. Is it nice to buy things that I want without worrying about sacrificing other shit? Yes. Is it cool to be able to pay my bills without worrying about where the money’s coming from? Hell yeah, but that’s not what life is about to me, Beth. You never got that.”