Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 65444 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 327(@200wpm)___ 262(@250wpm)___ 218(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65444 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 327(@200wpm)___ 262(@250wpm)___ 218(@300wpm)
“I love you, too.” His chin wobbles, and I swear if Max was here, I would beat the ever-loving crap out of him for making my boy feel the way he feels right now.
“Now go shower.”
“ ’Kay.” He drops his eyes from mine then turns, shutting the door to my bedroom as he goes.
Going to the bathroom, I shut the door then turn on the shower and strip out of my clothes. I don’t want Hunter to know I’m crying. I don’t want him to hear me sob, so I duck into the shower, sit on the floor with my arms wrapped around my shins, and cry silently into my chest until I’m forced to get up and move forward like my world isn’t crumbling down around me.
Chapter 5
Shelby
Sorting through the file in front of me, I scan the paperwork for a business loan that is closing today and stop when Misty pokes her head into my office.
“I’m stepping out for lunch. Do you want me to pick anything up for you?” she asks, leaning in a little more so half her body is hanging into the office and the other half outside the door.
“I’m good. I need to get this sorted, and then I’m gonna go get a coffee myself before Mr. Dorsey gets here at one.”
“Okay. Mike’s at the window until I get back.”
“Enjoy your lunch.” I smile, and she waves then disappears. It’s been a little over five days since I started working at our local bank, and I already love the environment and the people I work with.
When Max and I first got together, I had just started working for one of the largest brokerage firms in Seattle. I enjoyed my job, but didn’t love it, only because I was just one of many loan officers in the company. There was no sense of family or friendship. There was no unity of any kind, and my clients were all big timers who didn’t really know who I was.
Max and I got married six months after we met, and that was the same year I got pregnant with Hunter. We were both excited about becoming parents, and Max insisted he didn’t want a nanny raising our son, the way he had been raised. I wanted to be home and be a mom more than anything, so I quit my job during my third trimester and became a stay-at-home mom. I loved spending my days with Hunter when he was little, but as time went on, and Hunter started school, I felt the itch to get back to work.
Max was not happy about the idea of his wife working, so I put my wants on hold to please him and keep our family, which I felt slowly slipping apart, together, and it eventually caused a larger rift to grow between us. It wasn’t until the last year of our marriage that I decided to go back to work, regardless of how Max felt. I knew I could work at a bank and still be home for Hunter before he went to school in the mornings, and then be back at night in time for dinner.
It felt empowering to do what I wanted, to make my own money, but I know that was the straw that broke the camel’s back, so to speak. All of Max’s friends had wives who did nothing but spend their days getting pedicures while gossiping about who was cheating on whom, who had more money, and who was going bankrupt. I didn’t want that for myself I hated the cliché life I was living. It was making me sick, actually sick. I started to lose weight and my hair was falling out. I dreaded spending time with those women. I hated living a lie, and eventually, I started hating Max for forcing that life on me, for not seeing I was miserable. I wanted him to want me to be happy, but my feelings never really mattered to him.
“Shelby, you have a call on line three,” Misty says, pulling me from my thoughts, poking her head into my office.
I blink at her, then ask, “Did you already go to lunch?”
“Yeah.” She laughs. “You must have gotten carried away with work.”
“I must have,” I mumble, hearing her laugh again before disappearing once more. Glancing at the clock, I find it’s already 12:30. Picking up the phone I press it to my ear before clicking on the line to connect the call. “Shelby Calder speaking.”
“Miss Calder, my name is Annie Patterson. I’m your ex-husband’s attorney. Do you have a minute to speak?” My stomach fills with dread and my hands instantly become clammy. It’s been a week since my phone call with Max, one week of dreadful silence from him. When I’ve tried to call and talk to him, he hasn’t picked up, and when Hunter has been on the phone with him, he hangs up before I even have a chance to ask for the phone, leaving me completely helpless.