The Restaurant (The Nantucket Restaurant #1)(32)

“Well, try. I’d love to know why my husband thought it was a good idea to find other women online to sleep with.”

“It was just a release. And the thrill of doing something forbidden. I’m not proud to admit that, but it’s true. I didn’t care about any of those women. I love you. I won’t do it again, I promise.”

Mandy’s jaw dropped. “You’re serious? You expect me to forgive that and act as though it never happened?”

A panicky look crossed Cory’s face. He wasn’t used to people saying no. “I swear I’ll make it up to you. I don’t want to lose you.”

“You should have thought of that before you got your second phone and placed that ad. I think you should leave.”

“Now?”

Mandy sighed. It was after ten. “No. You can stay here tonight. But tomorrow you need to go. I can’t forgive this Cory. It’s too big.” She sniffed and looked around for a tissue. She tried to keep the tears back, but they fell hard. Cory took a step toward her and looked like he wanted to hug her. She sidestepped him and walked toward the door.

“I’m so sorry, Mandy. I never intended to hurt you.” He did sound sorry, but she knew he was probably more sorry that he got caught than anything else.

“I’m going to sleep in the guest bedroom tonight,” she said.

“You don’t have to. I’m happy to sleep there,” he offered.

But Mandy didn’t want to sleep in their bedroom tonight. There was too much Cory in that room and she wanted to be far away.

“No, you have it. Enjoy your last night in our bed, alone.”





The next morning, Mandy was in the kitchen making a cup of coffee when Cory walked up to her and looked like he’d been crying too. She was surprised to see it, but it didn’t change anything. She’d cried more last night than she’d thought possible until she finally fell asleep.

“Can we talk about this? What can I do to make it up to you? I’ll do anything.” He flashed the smile that used to melt her heart. It only made her want to cry again, and she’d told herself she was done crying.

“There’s really nothing to talk about. I’m not going to change my mind. It’s over.”

He sighed. “I thought maybe you’d think more about it and want to try to save our marriage. I’d even be willing to go to counseling.”

“I don’t see how counseling can fix this, Cory. How can I trust you again? And what kind of example would I be setting for our children?”

He was silent for a moment before saying, “They’d never need to know. We could pretend this never happened.”

“Maybe you could, but I couldn’t. You should call a realtor and see about getting yourself a rental, or buy something, whatever you prefer. In the meantime, there are plenty of hotels and bed and breakfasts for you to choose from. Just let us know where you decide to stay, and we can figure out some kind of visitation for the kids.”

He nodded. “Okay. I’ll go pack a suitcase. I can get the rest of my stuff this weekend, maybe?”

“That’s fine.”

“Maybe we could just separate for a while, take a break, and then maybe revisit things?” His tone was hopeful, but Mandy shook her head.

“I’m don’t think I’m going to change my mind, Cory. I’ll let you know if I do. Right now, I just can’t be around you.”

He nodded. “Okay, we don’t need to rush into anything. But whatever you want to do, I’ll support. Again, I’m really sorry, Mandy.”

Mandy felt the tears threaten again, and she tried to channel her anger to keep them at bay. She did not want to cry again in front of Cory. He wasn’t worth crying about. She picked up her coffee cup and turned to head into the sunroom.

“Bye, Cory. Let me know when you get settled somewhere.”





Chapter 13





Mandy was relieved that Cory didn’t take long to pack a suitcase. He was out the door before the kids were up, which she was grateful for. She wasn’t up to explaining anything to them just yet. They were bound to be upset, and Mandy hoped to disrupt their lives as little as possible. They would have to spend some time with Cory, most likely on weekends, and given that he was rarely around and always working, they might end up actually seeing more of him this way—though she knew it was going to be a huge change for all of them. She felt like she was going through the motions and that the full impact of what happened hadn’t really hit yet.

She woke the kids up and once they were eating breakfast, she jumped in the shower and stayed in a few minutes longer than usual, letting the hot water soothe her. After dropping the kids at school, she called Emma as she knew she was up early.

“Did you talk to Cory last night?” Emma asked as soon as she answered the phone.

“I did. It’s—well, it’s worse than I could have imagined.” Her voice broke, and she felt the tears coming again.

“Where are you? Can you stop by here on your way into the restaurant? I’ll start the coffee now.”

“I’m about five minutes away. I’ll be right over.”

When she walked into Gram’s house, Emma and Jill held the door wide open and pulled her in for a group hug. Emma handed her several tissues as they walked to the kitchen and sat down with their coffees.