One Summer in Paris(94)

Grace almost backed down, but then she imagined what Audrey would do in the same situation. There was no way she’d be backing down.

“How can I think it? Maybe it’s because you wanted to use our tickets to bring her to Paris. She has never been, as I recall.” Her tone was sharp, and a little sarcastic. Not like her at all. She was a little in awe of herself. She could almost hear Audrey saying, Go, Grace.

David seemed as surprised as she was.

“You’re angry with me.”

“I’m not angry. I was angry, it’s true. Angry and sad. But I moved past that and now I barely think about you if I’m honest. I was shocked to get your call. I still don’t understand why you’re here if it isn’t about the divorce.”

“I came here with Mimi. I checked on her while you were away.” He gave a half smile. “Fixed that damn cupboard door that always sticks. You know the one?”

Don’t do that, David. Don’t remind me of all the reasons I love you.

“You didn’t have to do that. I was in regular contact.”

He took a deep breath. “It’s over, Grace.”

“I know it’s over. You told me that six months ago.” She couldn’t believe he’d flown all this way just to dig the knife in personally.

“I mean it’s over with Lissa. We’re not together anymore. I moved out a while ago.”

Of all the things she’d thought he might be about to say, that hadn’t even made the list.

Grace felt the earth rock beneath her feet. “You’re—”

“I ended it, Gracie.”

She wished he wouldn’t call her that. It added another layer of intimacy when she was struggling hard to be detached.

“I— There’s so much I want to say to you.” He walked toward her, and she took several steps backward.

He’d had an affair. He’d slept with Lissa. There was no coming back from that.

“You told me you loved her.”

“For a little while, I thought I did. I was crazy. I don’t know—” He jammed his fingers into his hair. “I made a stupid, horrible mistake for all those clichéd reasons you read about. The thought of Sophie leaving home. End of an era. I felt old. Redundant. Isolated. You didn’t seem to be feeling it the way I did.”

Grace swallowed. She’d felt it, but she hadn’t talked about it. She’d been so determined that Sophie would leave the nest happily, without feeling any sense of responsibility toward her parents. “You’ve already made it clear that you think this is all my fault.”

“I never thought that.”

“You think the idea of Sophie leaving home didn’t affect me?” Surely he knew her better than that?

“You handled it so well. You were always so positive, talking about the future—you didn’t have the slightest wobble about our daughter leaving.”

She’d wobbled more than a plate of jelly, but she’d done it on her own. She’d tried to be strong.

Why hadn’t she shared her inner thoughts with him?

Because part of her had been afraid that if she acknowledged her feelings out loud, they’d grow.

“I had feelings, too, David, but I chose to focus on the future.”

“You make it look effortless. You’re so capable, you organize everything and I didn’t feel needed—not that I’m blaming you,” he added hastily, “and then one day there was Lissa—”

Lissa, whose father had walked out when she was seven. Lissa, who had never had an adult male in her life that she could depend on.

Grace was shocked by her own thought process. Was she making excuses for her? No! She wasn’t going to do that. Lissa was old enough to know what she was doing. David was certainly old enough.

She lifted her chin. “I’m not interested in the details. I can’t imagine why you’d think I would be.”

Her phone rang and she checked it, thinking it might be Sophie.

It was Philippe.

Never in a million years did she think she’d ever have to take a call from her lover while standing in front of her husband.

New Grace having a face-off with Old Grace.

Her life was turning into a farce.

David watched her steadily. “If you need to take that, then take it.”

She thought about what a conversation with Philippe would be like with David listening.

“I’ll call back.” She rejected the call. “I still don’t understand why you’re here. You flew all the way to Paris to tell me you and Lissa have broken up?” It hurt that Mimi hadn’t warned her. For her whole life, Mimi was the one Grace had been able to depend on. And she knew she could still depend on her, but still it felt like a tiny bit of a betrayal that Mimi had accompanied David and not contacted Grace first.

“I made her promise not to tell you. I wanted to tell you in person. And I wanted to tell you that I—” his voice was rough and ragged “—I miss you, Gracie. I miss you so much.”

At the beginning she’d wanted to hear those words so badly but he hadn’t said them. And he was saying them now, when she’d finally managed to take a few strides forward?

Did he think she was just going to fling herself into his arms and forgive him?

The cruelty of it almost shredded her. “You broke my heart, David. You almost broke me.”