Lost Love, Found Self: A New Beginning

heavy, the air thick with unspoken accusations. Back

owing his keys onto the glass

His name is

e that?" His voice was laced with an ugly posse

You mean after you humiliated me in my own kitchen to defend Willow? Yo

ly ashamed. "I was worried about h

I said flatly. "You chose to believe her l

I'm sorry about this morning. I overreacted." He stepped closer,

o be? Someone else to talk to? You can't keep me in a cage, Ethan,

ut Willow, isn't it? You've had it ou

you let her waltz in here and take over. How you look at her. How

were interrupted by the chime of the

y for Mrs. Vance," the voice

n said, his eyes s

ox from a high-end lingerie boutique arrived. I l

?" Ethan suggested, his an

, was an expensive, ridiculously skimpy set of red lace

note wasn't for me

e you in this. Thinking of y

as designed to look like Ethan was cheating, a power play to shatter whatev

n asked, seeing th

as he read it, his expression shifting from co

s is," he said, his voice pleading.

n. Who would want to do this? Who would want to drive a wedge between

he implication sank in. "Willow? No.

, Ethan! She's not some poor, helpless little bird. She's a snake you

out of me. "I am so tired of this. I am tired of her fake tears and her

ked conviction. The defense was weak, pathetic. "A

" I stalked across the room, my anger a living thing inside me. "Let's review, shall we? The night she arrived, she clung

on my fingers, my voic

ly' interrupts every serious conversation we try to have. And now she sends

t of him, my eyes

let yourself be? She is systematically trying to destroy our marriage,

n that had infected our lives. His inability to see the truth, his desperate, willful blindness, was more painful