Page 29 of Homewrecker

I blinked and made a face. Maybe he saw something change in my expression because he added quickly—

“But I’m not in love with her anymore.”

He looked directly at me. “I’m not staying because I’m in love with her. I’m staying because I’m scared of what leaving will do to her.”

Cruelty would’ve been easier. If he’d told me Ravenna was a bitch, I could’ve dismissed him. If he’d called her batshit crazy, I would’ve left. If he’d blamed her for everything wrong between them, I would’ve known exactly what kind of man he was. Instead, he sounded compassionate, burdened, and like a man standing in the doorway of his own life because walking through it might destroy someone he once loved.

I’m an empath. God help me. I could feel sorry for someone who slapped me if they explained what kind of day they’d had after. So, yes, something in me softened.

“What does she want?” I asked.

Caleb lowered his eyes. “Time. She wants to get emotionally stable before we legally separate.”

“Her words?”

“Yes.”

That mattered to me.

“She said she knows things aren’t the same anymore. She knows we can’t stay like this forever, but she’s grieving.”

He paused. “It’s not just the baby thing.”

“What else is it?”

“The life she thought she was gonna have.”

I looked away.

“She feels like her body took something from both of us.”

“That isn’t her fault.”

“I know.”

“Does she?”

“No.”

My chest ached and I didn’t know why because that woman was a stranger. She was the wife of the man who had asked me to dinner. I wasn’t supposed to be sitting there feeling sorry for her.

“What are you doing to help her?” I asked.

“Therapy.”

“Together?”

“We have before, but she has her own therapist too.”

“And separation hasn’t come up there?”

“It has.”

“And?”

“She isn’t ready.”

“You keep saying she isn’t ready. Are you?”