Caught in the Light Read Online Free PDF Page B

Already, at some intuitive level where our years together, the good as well as the bad, merged in her memory, she knew.
    "Not unpacked yet?" she asked, noticing the suitcase further down the hall.
    "There's something I have to tell you, Faith."
    "What?" She dropped her briefcase and stared at me. "What's happened?"
    "I'm leaving."
    "You've only just got back."
    "I mean I'm leaving .. ." I looked away, gesturing helplessly. "You. This house. Our marriage. It's over."
    "Over?"
    "Finished. Done with. I can't '
    "Can't what?"
    "Make it easy when it isn't. Be fair when I'm not being. We've had our problems before and ridden them out. But not this time. This is the end."
    "It's Nicole, isn't it?" She crashed the keys down on the telephone table and stepped closer. Her face was flushed, her breathing rapid. She was more shocked than angry. But soon the balance would change. "Isn't it?"
    "No."
    "That bloody woman."
    "It isn't Nicole. It's someone ... you don't know."
    "Who?"
    "It doesn't matter who she is. What matters is that I love her."
    Faith tried to laugh, but her eyes were closer to tears. "I doubt you dolan I doubt you even know the meaning of the word."
    "Nothing you say will make any difference. I'm sorry, truly sorry, to tell you so ... bluntly. But there really is no other way."
    "I forgave you Nicole. Have you forgotten that?"
    "No. Of course not."
    "I could have made things a lot harder for you."
    "I know."
    "Not just then. Other times. I've given you far more than you've ever deserved."
    "I know. Faith, for God's sake '
    "What about Amy? Have you considered how she's going to react?"
    "She's a level-headed girl. She'll understand."
    "Oh, she will, will she? Well, just in case she doesn't, perhaps you'd like to explain it to me. I mean, the way it works. Why it's so easy for you to walk out on fifteen years of my life as well as yours."
    "Who said it was easy?"
    "It must be. Otherwise you wouldn't be doing it."
    "You know things haven't been right between us for a long time."
    "And this is how you put them right?"
    "You're not listening, Faith. I've fallen in love with somebody else. It's as simple as that. If I stayed now, I'd be living a lie. And I'm not prepared to do that. I'm doing this for your sake as much as mine."
    "Bullshit. You're doing it because you want to."
    "All right. That's true, of course. It's what I want. But in time you may come to see that '
    "It's what I wanted all along without realizing it? Is that going to be your twisted justification for running off with whoever this bitch is?"
    "I'm sorry." I held up my hands to signal my abandonment of the argument. "This is getting us nowhere. I have to be true to myself, Faith. I've made my choice. I'm leaving."
    "Go ahead then." Her eyes were red and brimming now. She blundered past me into the kitchen, catching my camera bag with her foot and slewing it across the floor. "Do as you please." She ran water from the tap onto her fingers and rinsed some of the tears away.
    "You can contact me through Tim if there's anything '
    "There won't be." Her voice was thick with emotion. I wanted to hug and comfort her, but my own words held me back.
    "Obviously, as soon as I'm settled '
    "Get out, damn you!" She turned and glared at me. "If you're so determined to be ... true to yourself .. . and false to me ... then you're right. There really is nothing else to say. Whatever you've got with this woman won't last, even if it is more than sex, which I doubt. Either way, when it's over, and that'll be sooner than you think, I won't be waiting for you. Walk out of this house now and remember, it's an exit only. There's no way back."
    "Faith '
    "What's stopping you? It's what you say you want. So go ahead."
    "All right, but I just '
    "Just nothing. Get out. That's all I'm asking you to do. Get the hell out."
    I gathered up my coat and bags and retreated to the door. Holding it open, I looked at her down the length of the hall, standing defensively in the kitchen, her