Page 82 of Cursing My Cheating Husband

The relief that washed over his face was so naked. His arm tightened around me.

“God, Callie. I was so worried you’d wake up and...”

“I know.” I kissed him softly. “But I didn’t.”

He pulled back to look at me properly. “You have no idea how much I’ve missed this. Waking up next to you.” A sad smile crossed his face. “I can’t believe I didn’t appreciate the way you light up every morning. Until I wasn’t seeing it anymore. I’ll never take it for granted again.”

I felt myself relaxing further. This was so different from the Maddox I’d been married to.

“So… what happens now?” he asked tentatively.

That was a big question, daunting to answer fully. For now, I just wanted to live in the moment. “We enjoy the weekend. That was the plan.”

Suddenly, I recalled that the actual specifics had been that I would enjoy the weekend by rotating a lineup of my favorite hook-up partners in and out all weekend. Jake was probably getting ready to drive over right now!

“Oh gods!” I blurted, grabbing my phone and typing out a quick, apologetic cancellation to Jake. And Dante. And Aaron. And Colt.

Next to me, Maddox’s expression eased. His relief was palpable. “It was torture to see you with those guys.”

“I know the feeling,” I said, thinking of all his mistress text threads.

My words came out much sharper than I had intended. He flinched, and I felt a wave of guilt for puncturing the bliss of the moment.

But best to set it aside and move forward.

I threw back the covers. “Time for breakfast. I’m starving.”

He was already moving. “I’ll get started. It won’t be overnight crème brûlée, but I could make a simpler French toast. I can also do eggs, or⁠—”

“Maddox. You don’t have to do all that anymore. The servant thing. The elaborate breakfasts.”

“I know I don’t have to. But I want to. You deserve it.”

I studied him. Only sincerity in his eyes.

“Okay. But at least let me help.”

His face lit up. “You want to cook together?”

We pulled on T-shirts and shorts and made our way to the kitchen. Maddox pulled ingredients from the refrigerator while I started the coffee. The domesticity of it caught me off guard. This was what I’d imagined our life would be like when we got married. We’d had it for a little bit, but not for a long time since.

Now he was explaining his French toast technique with genuine enthusiasm, letting me take over the caramelizing. We moved around each other with easy familiarity.

“We make a good team,” he said, wrapping his arms around me from behind.

After breakfast, we headed for the beach. The air carried a crispness that hadn’t been there yesterday. More early fall than late summer.

As we walked, the conversation turned to our challenging relationships with our single parents. Our situations were so different, but we’d both spent our childhoods walking on eggshells, afraid to set off our volatile parent. Maybe this was one reason we fit together so well.

Maddox had never asked me so many questions about myself before. He wanted to know all about my relationship with Astrea.

It gave me such a comforting feeling to share with him the challenges that had come with being her daughter. The bizarre dynamic between parent and child when you are one of dozens of children, and the parent knows for sure she is still going to be around hundreds of years after you’ve died from old age.

Sharing this with him felt so right, it made me realize how stupid my original plan had been. Telling him about my past once and then never mentioning it again? What had I been thinking? If I hadn’t felt comfortable sharing my true self, I shouldn’t have gotten married to start with.

The talk turned to his dad. Thinking of the savagery I had witnessed directly inside his mind, I felt hollow. “I’m sorry I didn’t know how bad it was. I should have⁠—”

“Don’t you dare feel bad.” His voice was firm. “It’s not that you weren’t asking or weren’t interested. You wanted to know everything about me. I was hiding it from you… and I guess I didn’t want to admit it to myself either.”