Page 91 of What He Doesn't Know

And what does it matter?

That’s what I wanted to ask, but I simply leaned against the corner of the window, letting the frame take my weight.

“Well, then I guess there’s really nothing more to say. If you know about him, then you know what happens next.”

Cameron was still sitting at the foot of the bed, the only change in his stance being that he’d shifted so he was looking at me instead of the pillows where I’d sat before. He was calm and collected, seemingly unfazed by the fact that his wife had slept with another man.

“Enlighten me,” he challenged.

I stared at my hands, folding them over one another in my lap. “It’s over, Cameron. I’m done. I’m done with the pain, with being ignored, with this sham of a relationship we call marriage.” I shook my head, finally feeling the sinking in my gut again.

Admitting that we’d failed was the hardest part.

“I love him,” I whispered, sealing our fate, and I closed my eyes hard with the admission.

“No, you don’t.”

I frowned, opening my eyes again and finally looking at Cameron. It bothered me how calm he was, how sure he seemed.

“You don’t love him,” he repeated, his gaze hard. “You love the idea of him, the idea of what he used to be to you, and of what he never was.”

If I wasn’t clenching my jaw so hard, it would have been on the floor.

“You don’t know anything,” I spat, standing straight again. A black fog crept into the edges of my vision but I ignored it, floating on the adrenaline set loose by his words. “You haven’t known anything about me since we lost the boys. You haven’t evencaredto know.”

“I was trying to give you space and let you heal, Charlie.”

“I DIDN’T NEED SPACE,” I screamed, flying toward him. I stopped just a few feet away as tears pricked the corners of my eyes. My hand flew to my chest, fisting over my heart as my face twisted with the emotion I couldn’t hold back anymore. “I neededyou.”

He flinched at that, his face finally falling from the stoic expression he’d worn since he walked in the room. His eyes fell to the floor and I shook my head, turning my back on him again. A rush of cold air from the window shocked a loud breath from my chest, and I swiped at the tears I’d let escape.

“I know,” he said after a moment, voice low. “I realize that now, and I’m sorry. But I’m your husband, and you’re my wife. You loveme, Charlie. Not him.”

I choked out something between a laugh and a sob, spinning on my heels to face him. “I’m leaving you.”

“No, you’re not.”

“Are youdeaf?” I asked, incredulous. “I’mleavingyou, Cameron. I’m done. It’s over. I want a divorce.”

“Two months,” he said loudly, his voice booming over mine as I said the dreaded d-word. His eyes snapped to mine, the crease between his brows deep and serious.

“What?”

“That’s how long he’s been back in your life, right?” he probed, jaw clenched. “That’s how long it took you to realize that youlovehim, that you don’t want to be my wife anymore, that you want to turn your back on everything we’ve built, on everything we’ve been through, to be with him?”

I just stared at him, mouth open to fight back, but I didn’t have words.

“The least you can do is give me a fair playing field,” he continued, and he straightened his shoulders with his next request. “Give me two months.”

I scoffed, pacing the room, my eyes flicking from the cage to the window to him and back again. “You’re kidding, right? There’s nothing you can do, Cameron. You’ve had the past fiveyears,” I reminded him. “Five years since we lost our sons. Five years since you turned your back on me and left me alone in this marriage. What could you possibly do to change my mind now?”

“Two months, Charlie.”

A scream ripped from my throat, and I grabbed the open door of the bird cage, throwing it to the floor in a thunderous crash. I dragged my hands through my hair once it was at my feet, squeezing my eyes shut as more tears broke free.

“I just don’t understand,” I cried. “Nothing makes sense. Why now? Why did it take losing me for you to care?”

My hands fell to my side, exasperated, and I met his eyes with my own. Emotion tore through me like a razor blade to a healing wound, and I didn’t bother fighting against the tears anymore as I begged my husband for mercy.