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“Don’t talk about Astrid that way.” Anger boils beneath my skin. What is with everyone and their opinions on my fucking life?
“Wow, I didn’t think you had it in you to have feelings for someone.”
It’s a dig at what happened between us. Victoria and I didn’t end with drama. Our love had fizzled out well before we signed the divorce papers. I feel badly about how it happened. Everyone deserves to be loved. To have a partner that is there for them. But neither of us was able to give the other what they needed. It certainly wasn’t just me.
“Victoria. I think it’s best if we don’t talk about our love lives.”
“Love.” Her laugh becomes a cackle. “You wouldn’t know love if it walked up and introduced itself.” She turns, dismissing me. “We’ll see if your little girlfriend still loves you after you pick hockey over her.”
And with that, she walks into the house, not bothering to look back.
I deserved that. I know Victoria feels as if I chose hockey over her, and it’s because I did. But it was the right decision for both of us. We are happier now. We were never going to be together. Our personalities, our ambitions, we were never going to work out.
And just because she wasn’t my match, doesn’t mean that that’s destined to happen again.
I refuse to let the same thing happen to Astrid.
She deserves better.
I get back in my car and drive away, trying and failing to let go of Victoria’s words. It’s not the hockey comments that bother me, it’s everything else that she said.
The help. The nanny. And the look on her face as she said it.
My hands tighten around the steering wheel.
This is exactly what Astrid is afraid of people thinking, and I hate to witness it firsthand. I don’t want anyone disrespecting her, what she means to me, or how we met. And I’m not sure how I’m going to protect her from this.
CHAPTER 24
ASTRID
I’ve gone back and forth all day on whether or not I should bring up the picture with the girl. Sean was weird enough before he left. And we’re not in a relationship, and we never said we’d be exclusive. So really, he doesn’t owe me anything. But at the same time, if he’s going to see people behind my back I feel as if it’s a conversation that we should have.
He played well, so he shouldn’t be stressed. And he said we would hang out, which seems to indicate that he’s not planning on avoiding me.
So I’ve come to the conclusion that I need to talk about it.
I settle into the cushions on the couch, grabbing the fuzzy blanket off the back and wrapping myself in it as I turn on the tv.
I’m relaxing when I hear the door close, and Sean walks inside.
“I picked up pizza on the way home,” Sean shouts, greeting me with a grin as he walks into the room.
“Delicious,” I say. Immediately my mind fixates on the conversation that I know I need to have.
I can do this. It’s not a big deal. It’s just a conversation between two adults. It doesn’t make me clingy. It’s just a normal piece of information that I should know since we’re intimate. Or we were. Fuck. Maybe this means he doesn’t want to continue being with me like that.
Hot shame threatens to derail my conviction. If he doesn’t like me like that anymore I will be so embarrassed.
“Are you okay?” he asks, his eyebrows knit together in concern.
“Are you sleeping with other people?” I blurt out the words before I can take them back.
He blinks and I wish I could disappear.
“I’m sorry. You don’t have to answer that.” I want to grab one of the pillows and suffocate myself before I make this any worse. He doesn’t owe me anything. Oh god. I’ve made this far more awkward than it needs to be.
I look around. I wish I could hole into a blanket and never have to see him again.
