Page 72 of If I Didn’t Have You

I was already cramping, so I did as he said and followed his movements. I didn’t feel any better in the end, but at least I wasn’t on the verge of passing out.

Finally, I drank my water, taking a seat before my jello-like legs gave out. I wasn’t sure what the point of all this was, but when he stood and grinned at me, I knew the torture was long from over.

“Same time tomorrow.”

“Fuck you,” I shot back.

“Get yourself some clothes. You can keep what you have.”

I looked down at the shit I was wearing and frowned. “You want me to spend money on this shit?”

Shaking his head, he walked away. “See you at five!”

“Not if I see you first!”

21

CLARA

Breathe in. Breathe out.

I focused on that instead of the gnawing in my gut. Three weeks had passed since I last saw Ben.

Three weeks of pure torture.

Why had I said those horrible things to him? Yes, I wanted him to fix whatever was going on inside his head, but it was the hangover being so nasty. And now, I didn’t have a clue how to fix it.

“You’re not concentrating,” Georgia hissed beside me.

I ignored her and did my best to follow along, but that didn’t stop the running commentary flowing from her lips.

“Have you heard from Ben?”

I shook my head.

“Has he been back to work on the house?”

Again, I shook my head.

“Any chance he’ll leave you the ranch in the divorce?”

“Georgia!” I snapped, drawing the attention of everyone around me. Smiling, I went into a downward dog and pretended everything was fine.

By the time class was out, pretty much everyone was gossiping about my love life. They just did a good job at pretending they were talking about something else. Gathering my things, I was about to storm out of the studio when Ben came out of the locker room with Sam, his shirt off and dripping sweat.

Ben, not Sam.

And man, did it make me wish we weren’t fighting. I missed my husband so much, but one thing I hadn’t expected was that while I was moping over him being gone, he was out there getting in shape.

“When did he start working out?” Georgia asked, blatantly staring at my husband. “It’s only been a few weeks. He must have his eye on someone.”

My gaze snapped to hers. “What do you mean?”

“Well, honey, I hate to tell you this, but if he’s working out and sweating that hard, he’s already found someone new. She’s most likely younger and got the body of a twenty-five-year-old. Cheap skank.”

“Wait, you think Ben is doing this for another woman?”

The pitying look on her face nearly brought tears to my eyes. “Honey, I’m sorry you had to find out this way, but what did you think was going to happen? You kicked him out.”