After I Gave My Husband Away, He Begged Me to Stay Chapter 10
We had driven for a while before Grant finally asked,
“Your brother?”
“Yeah.”
“You two have something in common.”
“How?”
“You both seem to think you know what’s best for me.‘
I looked at him.
“You’re talking too much.”
“I’ll shut up.”
He actually did.
At a red light, he handed me a cup of hot coffee.
“Just bought it.”
I took it.
Warmth seeped into my hands through the cup.
Ethan came to San Jose in December.
It was the new campus’s first open house event.
The lobby was full of vendors and partner organizations,
I was onstage presenting the next quarter’s plan.
Halfway through, someone entered at the back.
I glanced up.
Ethan.
He wore a black coat and stood off to the side.
I kept presenting.
After the session ended, several partners gathered around me with questions.
Grant peeled two groups away from me.
Ethan waited until most people had left before walking over.
“Can we talk?”
“I have another meeting.”
“Ten minutes.”
I checked my watch.
“Seven.”
He followed me into a small conference room next door.
The door closed. He put a document envelope on the table first.
“The renovation money is fully paid.”
I did not touch it.
“It goes through my attorney’s account.”
“It already did.”
“Then what else?”
He looked at me.
“Megan agreed to finalize the divorce during winter break.”
“Good.”
“Noah’s enrollment is secure. We checked with the district. The divorce won’t affect him.”
“Okay,”
“Claire.”
He pulled out a chair, then did not sit.
“I’ve spent the last few months thinking about how we got here.”
“Seven minutes isn’t enough time for that.”
“Don’t do this.”
“Five minutes left.”
He clenched his jaw.
“I admit I was wrong.”
“I shouldn’t have lied to you, and I definitely shouldn’t have asked you to move out.”
“I just thought one year was short.”
“Look, four months have already passed.”
“Two more months, and Megan will sign the divorce papers.
“We can start over. We’ll do the wedding exactly the way you want.”
“If you don’t want that condo, we’ll sell it and buy another place.”
“If you want to stay in San Jose, I can apply for a transfer.”
He spoke quickly.
As if he’d rehearsed every word.
I waited until he finished.
“Ethan.”
“Yeah?”
“Do you have proof you’re still married?”
His expression shifted.
“Yes.”
“Show me.”
He pulled a certified copy from the envelope.
I opened it.
Nothing on the record had changed.
“See?”
I pushed the document back toward him.
“You are still someone else’s husband.”
“I told you, we’re divorcing over winter break!”
“That’s your business.”
“And after the divorce?”
“Still not my business.”
He braced both hands on the table. His knuckles went white.
“Eight years, Claire. You can really walk away from eight years just like that?”
“I’m not the one who threw it away.
“Then who did?”
I looked at him.
“You did. The second you signed your name on August seventeenth.”
His mouth tightened.
Someone knocked twice on the conference room door.
Grant opened it just a few inches.
“The partners are here.”
I stood.
Ethan suddenly asked,
“Are you with him?”
Grant stayed outside.
I picked up my laptop.
No.”
Ethan visibly relaxed.
Then I said,
“But whether I am someday or not isn’t any of your business anymore.”
I walked past him.
The digital screen outside the lobby was cycling through the new campus leadership team.
My name was at the top.
Below it: Claire Bennett, Campus Operations Director.
Ethan stood behind the glass door.
He did not follow me out.