Love Far Away (A Spicy Contemporary Romance) Read Online Free PDF Page A

since we were sixteen
years old. We had our old prom photo framed on the mantle, not far away from
our wedding picture. When we had graduated high school, he’d given me a promise
ring and told me he’d love me forever. How could that boy I’d fallen in love
with have turned into this man sitting across the table from me, telling me
he’d met someone else?
    “No,” I said flatly. “I don’t believe it.”
    He looked taken aback. “What do you mean?”
    “Fourteen years, Bradley! That’s how long we’ve been
together. You don’t just meet some floozy at the bar or whatever and decide
you’re in love with her after a few days.”
    “That’s not how it happened,” said my husband. “It was just-
well, you work with someone every day, you get close to them...it was hard to
talk to you about work stuff. You changed. All you cared about was your
photography, or trying to get Henry into the same karate class as his friends,
or baking the best holiday treats for Olivia’s preschool class- there was
nothing to talk about anymore, you turned into someone else.”
    I bristled. “Well, God forbid I actually care to spend time
raising our children,” I said sarcastically. “I’m so sorry that the time I
spent caring for our kids made you want to run elsewhere to get it. Those
nights you worked late- you were fucking that slut while I stayed home feeding
our kids and tucking them into bed, weren’t you? God!” I pushed myself away
from the table in disgust. “Who are you, anyway? Who did I even marry?”
    “It’s not like that!” he protested. “I haven’t...done
anything about it. I just know I love her and to stay married to you would be
living a lie. I can’t do that. It’s not fair to you, to me, to the kids.”
    “What’s her name?” I asked. “Tell me her name. Have I met
her? Has she been here?”
    “You don’t know her,” he said quickly. “You might have said
hello to her at the office Christmas party, I don’t know. Nothing had started
then. It wasn’t until we worked on the big Fleischman project together this
winter and started spending time together...”
    “What’s her name?” I repeated. “God, it’s not your
secretary, is it? Because that would be too much, really.”
    “No, it’s not her,” said Bradley. He hesitated, then said
quickly, “Her name is Nikki. Nicole Wilson.”
    “And does she feel the same way?”
    Bradley looked down. “Look, Julia, I know this is hard. It’s
not what I would have chosen, but it just happened. I think we should get a
divorce.”
    I actually staggered backwards and had to grab on to the
wall for balance. At least it could offer me some unwavering support. “Are you
crazy?” I whispered. “A divorce? We can’t do that to the kids! I’m sorry you’re
having a midlife crisis, Bradley, but you have two children to think of. You
can’t just throw your family away because some girl at the office suddenly
understands you. Look, I know our marriage has stalled a bit. I really wanted
us to have a chance to get away this summer together, to reconnect...maybe go
to Chicago for a weekend. Or even a cruise or something like that. Just get away,
the two of us. Counseling, maybe we can try that. I’ll do some research
tomorrow and see if I can find someone, we can find ways to start communicating
better. Fourteen years, Bradley! We’ve been together that long. Almost eight
years of marriage. You can’t just throw that away.”
    “Look, I’m sorry, Jules,” he said softly. “But I wouldn’t
have said anything if I didn’t know it was what I wanted. I’ve been thinking
about this for a while now.”
    He just had to twist that knife in my chest a bit, didn’t
he?
    “We can still do counseling,” he offered. “With the kids, to
get them used to the idea. It’ll be tough for all of us, but we’ll help them
through it.”
    I just stared at him. Who was this man I’d married?
    Bradley got nervous when I didn’t say anything.