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“And into the arms of another woman.”
“Yes. A woman that I’m so in love with. I never thought I could feel this way about anyone. Not until I met you. The thing about this entire situation is Avery knows she can’t cast one stone at me. She doesn’t know that I’m aware of that fact because she has no clue that I know about her relationship with Justin.She also has no clue about all the evidence that I have that proves she’s been having an affair for years.”
“Yes, I know. Otherwise, she wouldn’t still be carrying on with her big charade. And about evidence… She now has some on us that would prove our affair.”
“I go back to what I just told you. You and I come across as good and caring friends in that video and Avery can’t prove we’re anything more than that.”
Stevie sighed. “Okay, here’s what I think about this whole fucked-up deal. I do believe something happened between Avery and Justin the last time she was in Lubbock and that’s why she returned home suddenly so adamant about working things out with you. Justin is no longer an option and you’ve always been Avery’s backup plan. Because you’ve tolerated her bullshit all this time, I believe she’s always believed she could reel you back in if things ever went south out west. Now that they seemed to have done exactly thatandnow that Avery knows about you and me, you can expect her to dig in her heels about winning you back. Even if it takes her threatening to divorce you and file for joint custody of Malcolm to achieve it.”
“Stevie, I don’t believe she’ll ever do it.”
“But she will do it, because she’s that desperate. I can see her following through with taking the legal route if you don’t agree to reconcile with her. Avery really doesn’t want you. She just wants the financial security that you provide, but things are two-fold now since she knows about us. She still doesn’t want you. She just doesn’t want anybody else to have you, and if she can’t have you, then she’ll still get a big payout since you’ve been married to her for ten years. She can still take your money and she can still take Malcolm away from you through split custody.”
“What are you really saying by bringing up all of this?”
Stevie paused for several long seconds. I could hear her taking one deep breath after another, and then she cried, “Our relationship needs to end. Today.”
“No!”
“Yes, Zac, it does.”
“No! You told me that you’d wait for our forever!”
“I know I did. Foolish me for saying it. Foolish me for believing we’d ever get a forever. Foolish me for thinking Avery wouldn’t find out about us. Foolish me for every goddamn thing.”
“Stevie, don’t do this! Please!”
“I have to because I know you won’t. You told me in the beginning that you’d never be the one to end us, so I am. I’m doing it because I love you and Malcolm so much and this is the only way that I can protect you both. Now go save your marriage with Avery—even if you have to fake it. Do whatever you have to do. Just don’t lose your son.”
49
#never
Zac
I RANG STEVIE’Sdoorbell and waited. After about thirty seconds I rang it again, but she still didn’t come to the door. She hadn’t replied to any of the texts I’d sent her last night after she hung up on me. She also hadn’t called me back although I pleaded with her to call me in all the voicemails that I left.
I’d wanted to come over here last night but knew that Stevie’s father was still at her house. His car wasn’t in the driveway now, but he could still be in town—the two of them could very well be eating out somewhere, and that could be why Stevie wasn’t answering her front door. I couldn’t eat anything right now if tried because my stomach was so knotted up about Stevie saying we needed to end our relationship. If she really meant it, she was going to have to tell me in person. I wanted her to look me in the eyes.
I gave her doorbell one more ring, then stepped off the front porch and looked around the quiet neighborhood. Then I decided to go look in Stevie’s backyard. I realized she could be in her pool and didn’t know I was here.
I quietly opened the gate and when I looked over at the pool, I saw Stevie floating on her back, and my heart started beatingeven harder. Stevie’s eyes were closed and they remained that way even after I walked up and stood on the pool deck, directly across from her. She continued floating and I kept watching her in her silent reverie. Then she unexpectedly opened her eyes and looked at me. She stayed where she was, in the deep end of the pool, and I stayed where I was as we both began falling apart in front of each other.
“Did you mean what you said to me last night? Are we over, Stevie?” I choked out.
She stopped floating on her back and began treading water. “Yes. It’s best and we both know it.”
“No, I don’t know it.”
“Yes, you do. It’s not what we want but it is best for all involved. Especially Malcolm. You are his world and he needs to keep his full-time daddy.”
I shook my head in frustration. “Stevie, don’t worry about that. Avery is not gonna do anything, legally.”
“Mark my word—if you don’t reconcile with her, she will.”
“It’s not happening. The thought sickens me to no end.”
“Then like I told you last night: fake it.”
