Year of Living Blonde (Sweet Life in Seattle, Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

a tan?” His hair is lighter as well, as if it’s been bleached by the sun. Natalie gets a sick feeling in her stomach. “Where have you been?”
    Peter has the decency to at least look embarrassed when he answers her. “Mexico.” He clears his throat. “We went to Cabo San Lucas for a few days.”
    Natalie is stunned. While she’s been trying to cope with his abandonment, Peter has been on vacation. He traveled somewhere warm and sunny with her. She pictures him sitting on the beach with a drink in his hand, the blurry image of another woman by his side. She’s so furious it nearly eclipses the pain.
    “You know what? I’m glad Lindsay and I drank that wine! I wish I’d poured every single bottle you own down the drain!” Natalie pushes herself up from the couch and goes into the kitchen to get away from him.
    She stands next to the sink, trying to calm herself. Why would he do this to me? Why? After everything we’ve shared over the years. She squeezes her eyes shut as hard as she can and wishes she could cry.
    “Natalie?”
    She turns and Peter is peering around the corner. His face sorrowful. His tan face.
    “What did I ever do to you that would make you treat me like this? Tell me,” she demands.
    He walks slowly into the kitchen and stands near the island. “That’s not an easy question to answer.”
    “Yes, it is. You must have some reason!”
    Peter seems to be searching for the words. “I don’t know. It’s just everything. I don’t feel a real connection with you anymore.”
    “Have you even tried? Don’t you think I’d like to go to Mexico and sit in the warm sun? Why not ask me? ”
    “I did.”
    “No, you didn’t.”
    “Last year, I tried to get you to fly down there for vacation with me, but you refused.”
    Natalie tries to remember what he’s talking about and it does sound familiar. Then suddenly it comes to her. It was just after she and Blair had signed the lease on La Dolce Vita. He wanted to fly down to Cabo San Lucas, but she couldn’t leave because they were opening their bakery.
    “That’s not fair. You knew I couldn’t go anywhere then. I was starting a new business!”
    Peter shakes his head. “It’s always something, Natalie. Face it—you have no sense of adventure. All you want to do is work. Day after day, without end. But I don’t want to spend my whole life working. I want to live, too.”
    “I enjoy my work, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want a break sometimes. We could take a vacation together, if that’s what you really want.” She walks toward him and tries to take his hand, but he pulls away from her.
    “It’s too late for that. It’s just no good between us anymore, and it hasn’t been for a long time.”
    Natalie swallows. She knows he’s talking about their sex life, or the lack of it. To be honest, she’s not even sure when they did it last. A quickie in the dark before she had to get up and go to work? “We can fix that, too,” she says quietly.
    “Lena told me you’d say that.”
    “What?” A shock runs through her body as she hears that woman’s name. “You’ve talked about this with Lena? ”
    “I talk about everything with Lena. We love each other. She actually listens and cares about what I have to say.”
    Natalie grits her teeth. That bitch! Who does this woman think she is, discussing our marriage? “She’s stealing you! Don’t you see that? What kind of terrible person breaks up a family? And you’re so deluded you think you’re in love with her!”
    “Lena isn’t like that. And she didn’t have to steal me, Natalie. The fact is, I was already gone when I met her.”
    “Because I didn’t want to go to Mexico? After all these years, that’s enough for you to leave?”
    “Look, I don’t want to hurt your feelings, but I need more. I want a woman.”
    “I am a woman!”
    “Barely.”
    “Excuse me?”
    “You heard me. I want a woman who cares. Who makes an effort to look, you know . . . sexy.”
    And