Chapter 18.
“I don’t want to fight,” Rosalind stated flatly. “Christopher. We’re getting a divorce.”
“No,” he snapped, his brow deeply furrowed. “It’s not what you think.”
Rosalind let out a bitter laugh. “I have eyes. I see what it is.”
“I haven’t slept with her!” Christopher roared. “She’s just a… Look, since it bothers you so much, I’ll handle it. I’ll cut ties. But divorce? Forget it!”
Rosalind’s voice was icy. “Handle her? Could you really let her go?”
“Fifteen years! Everyone knows how I feel about you! Ask anyone we know! Ask them what they see! Rosalind, don’t push me just because I love you.”
“I’m not pushing you. Christopher, you betrayed our marriage first…”
Christopher flinched as if struck. He pointed violently towards the door.“I betrayed it? You did! Senior year! You spent the night with Prof. Glenn in a hotel! You think I didn’t know? I never brought it up because I didn’t want to ruin what we had! But Rosalind, I’m a man! My woman slept with a professor for academic favors! How the hell was I supposed to swallow that?”
Rosalind stared, stunned.
She hadn’t expected this, dredged up after seven years.
She hadn’t realized it had festered inside him all this time.
“Christopher, I was with Prof. Glenn that night because…” Her voice was cold.
“Stop. I don’t want excuses,” he cut her off.“Eugene saw you both leaving the hotel that morning! If he hadn’t told me, I couldn’t have believed it. The woman I treasured was so loose.”
He paused.
The shape of his mouth suggested a much harsher word than “loose” had almost escaped.
But he’d settled on that.
Suddenly, it clicked for Rosalind.
That was why Eugene had despised her all these years.
It was no wonder he didn’t mind Latoya but looked down on her.
Christopher continued, his voice raw, “Since we’re airing it all, back then, I respected you. I wanted you, but I waited because you weren’t ready. And you turned around and slept with a man old enough to be your father! Rosalind, if I hadn’t loved you so damn much, I would have ended it then…”
“It’s not too late now,” Rosalind said coldly. “If it still bothers you that much, we can finalize the divorce
tomorrow.”
Before, she’d worried he wouldn’t agree.
Now, they were past that. There was no need for Eugene’s help.
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< Chapter 18
Christopher refused again. “No divorce. You stepped out before the wedding. I stepped out after. We’re even. We bury this. Both of us. Pretend they never happened.”
“Christopher, if it hurts this much, why stay? Living with that thorn in your side, doesn’t it hurt?”
He closed his eyes, a bitter smile twisting his lips. “Because I love you, Rosalind. Damn it, I’m stuck with you…”
“Yikes!”
A sharp cry pierced the air from the hallway.
Christopher yanked the guest room door open. Latoya lay sprawled on the floor, tears welling in her eyes from the pain of her fall.
A short distance away lay a squashed banana peel.
Chapter 19.
Chapter 19.
