Page 86 of Cursing My Cheating Husband

Not that I cared. I just stared at the spot where Callie had been, beside me in the banquette. I trailed my fingers along the cushion she had been leaning against, still warm from her body heat.

I don’t know how I could ever find a way to accept this. I had ended up with the most incredible woman on the planet, and then fucked it all up, completely beyond fixing.

She was gone. I had lost her forever.

How could I let her go?

There had to be something else to try.

Didn’t there?

CHAPTER 37

CALLIE

Two Months Later

Seated in the offices of the title company, I signed the last page and slid it across the table.

The closing agent collected the paperwork, and I handed over the keys to the young couple across from me. They were both beaming, thrilled to purchase their first home. His hand was on her knee, her fingers linked through his. They seemed like a charming pair, very much in love.

Maddox and I must have looked the same when we first bought this house.

I wished them well and headed out onto the street.

This was probably my last visit to this community that I had lived with Maddox. Completing the sale of the house severed my last tie here. I doubted I would ever have another reason to return.

I hated to admit it, but when I had teleported to the house this morning for the final walk-through, I had been disappointed Maddox wasn’t there.

Of course, it was silly to think he would be. Obviously, he had taken his few things and gotten his own place in the last two months, exactly as I had asked him to.

I’m sure it was unhealthy to want to see him anyway. I should be moving on and healing, like I told him I would do.

But the love I felt for him simply hadn’t faded yet.

I just had to give it more time. I may still love Maddox, but his cheating had put an irreparable crack in the foundation of us. I couldn’t live that way for the rest of my life, always fearing a return to his cheating ways, always wondering if I was being crazy or not.

Enough thinking about Maddox. Focus on the future. I had some promising job interviews lined up for the next two weeks. It was time to stop being so fixated on finding a purpose and just get a job.

Especially since Astrea was due to give birth to the twins any day now, and I was eager to have a job and my own place when that happened.

Brie was happy to have me crash with her, but I felt like too much of a third wheel around her and Brady to actually stay there. She and her familiar had such a strong connection. They enjoyed each other’s company so much, and they were true professional partners on the familiar-rights cases.

It was ashamed to admit it, but seeing them together was a painful reminder that I may never get my own familiar. Spending my twenties as I did, I may have missed my window forever on that.

I shook my head. Maybe this walk through the old neighborhood had been a bad idea. It was putting me in an overly wistful headspace.

And up ahead was some kind of angry street preacher. Standing on a crate, wearing a shapeless, dirty sack, with close-cropped, jagged hair that looked as if hedge clippers had cut it. Gesticulating wildly and yelling at pedestrians.

I wanted to cross the street to get away from whatever this was, but there was too much traffic. I resolved to walk by as briskly as possible.

As I approached, I looked straight ahead, determined to avoid any accidental eye contact.

I was close enough that the ranting became intelligible.

“Infidelity is the plague of our times! Cheaters and home-wreckers, your judgment approaches! The adulterer rots his soul from within!”

It was a female voice. I hadn’t expected that. The sack she was wearing was so oversized, her physique was completely camouflaged.