“I’m listening,” I said.
Max was quiet for several seconds.
“I was cruel to you.”
The simplicity of the sentence unsettled me more than an elaborate apology would have.
I leaned against the kitchen counter. Across from me, the girls were pretending not to listen while very obviously listening.
“Yes,” I said.
“I shouldn't have said those things yesterday.”
“No.”
“And I shouldn't have said them before.”
I closed my eyes.
There it was.
The part I had not expected.
He wasn't limiting his apology to the wedding.
“I spent a long time thinking I was helping you,” he continued. “Telling you to change things. Telling you what other people might think. I convinced myself I was being honest.”
“You weren't helping me.”
“I know.”
His voice sounded tired.
I looked at the clock.
The girls had school in less than an hour.
“Why are you telling me this now?”
Another silence.
“Because Claire asked me a question last night.”
I frowned.
“What question?”
“She asked me whether I actually loved you when we were married.”
I didn't know what to say.
Max continued before I could answer.
“I told her I did.”
My grip tightened around the phone.
“Then she asked why I had spent so much time trying to make you feel unattractive.”
I stared at the floor.
“What did you tell her?”
“I didn't have an answer.”
That sounded more like Max than I expected.
He had always been good at having answers.
Sometimes they were explanations.
Sometimes excuses.
Sometimes they were simply delivered with enough confidence that I doubted my own memory.
But this time, he had nothing.
“I think I was angry,” he said.
“At me?”
“At myself.”
The words were so unexpected that I sat down.
Max breathed slowly.
“When things started going wrong between us, I blamed you because it was easier than admitting I wasn't happy with myself.”
I looked toward the window.
Morning sunlight had begun to fill the kitchen.
“And Claire?”
“I don't know.”
“You married her yesterday.”
“I know.”
“You're calling me the morning after your wedding to tell me you don't know?”
“I know how that sounds.”
“It sounds like you have a problem.”
He didn't argue.
“I probably do.”
I rubbed my forehead.
“Max, whatever is happening between you and Claire, don't make it my responsibility.”
“It isn't.”
“Good.”
“I just wanted to say I'm sorry.”
I believed that he was sorry.
That didn't mean I forgave him.
Those were different things.
“Thank you,” I said.
He seemed surprised.
Then he asked, “Do you hate me?”
The question irritated me.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because I don't want to spend the rest of my life hating you.”
He said nothing.
“I have two daughters,” I continued. “They're going to have to know you for the rest of their lives. I don't want every conversation about you to become poisoned.”
“I understand.”
“Then start acting like you understand.”
“I will.”
We ended the call.
My daughter immediately appeared beside me.
“Was Dad really sorry?”
I looked at her.
“I think he was.”
“Does that mean you're friends again?”
“No.”
She nodded thoughtfully.
“Okay.”
Then she went back to her breakfast.
Children sometimes understood boundaries more easily than adults did.
That afternoon, I returned to work.
Edward was already at his desk.
He looked up as I approached.
“How bad?”
I smiled.
“Good morning to you too.”
“You have the face you make when something complicated happened.”
“You know my face now?”
“I've worked with you for years.”
I set my coffee down.
“Max apologized.”
Edward leaned back.
“Genuine apology?”
“I think so.”
“That doesn't mean you have to accept everything that comes with it.”
“I know.”
He studied me.
“Do you?”
I gave him a look.
“You're becoming annoying again.”
“Good.”
I smiled.
Then he noticed the expression on my face.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“You're staring.”
“I was thinking about yesterday.”
“That usually gets people into trouble.”
“I was thinking about the way you defended me.”
Edward's expression softened.
“You didn't need defending.”
“I know.”
“Then what are you thanking me for?”
“For reminding me.”
“Of what?”
“That I don't have to let someone else's opinion become my identity.”
He looked down at his desk.
“You remembered that.”
“Yes.”
He nodded.
“Good.”
The conversation ended there.
But something between us had changed.
Not dramatically.
There was no sudden confession.
No romantic declaration.
Just a new awareness.
For the first time, I noticed how often Edward looked toward my office when he thought I wasn't paying attention.
And I noticed that I had started looking for him too.
Three days later, Claire called me.
I almost didn't answer.
“Hello?”
“Veronica?”
“Yes.”
“This is Claire.”
“I know.”
She gave a nervous laugh.
“Right.”
There was a long pause.
“I wanted to apologize.”
“For what?”
“For the way I behaved at the wedding.”
“You didn't say much.”
“I didn't need to.”
I understood.
She had stood beside Max while he humiliated me.
Sometimes silence was a choice.
“I should have stopped him earlier,” she said.
“Yes.”
“I know.”
Her voice cracked slightly.
“I also need to ask you something.”
I waited.
“Was Edward really your boyfriend?”
I almost laughed.
“No.”
She exhaled.
“I thought so.”
“How?”
“He looked at you differently.”
I didn't know what to say.
“He was pretending,” I said.
“Maybe.”
She sounded unconvinced.
“Claire, why are you asking?”
“Because Max spent the whole night talking about him.”
I frowned.
“What did he say?”
“He said Edward made him feel like a fool.”
“That sounds like Max.”
“He also said something else.”
“What?”
“He said you looked happier with Edward than you ever looked with him.”
I stared at the wall.
I didn't like hearing that.
Not because I wanted Max to think it.
Because part of me wondered whether it was true.
Claire continued.
“I don't know what happens next for me and Max.”
I stayed silent.
“But I know one thing,” she said. “He isn't angry because of Edward.”
“Then why?”
“Because Edward proved something he didn't want to see.”
“What?”
“That you don't need him.”
The call ended shortly afterward.
I sat at my desk for several minutes.
Then I looked across the office.
Edward was there.
He was reading a report.
He looked up.
Our eyes met.
He smiled.
I smiled back.
And for the first time, I wondered whether the fake part of our arrangement had already begun to disappear.
Click here to continue reading: PART 6: The Pretend Relationship Was Supposed to End With the Wedding, Yet Edward’s Next Invitation Made Me Question What We Had Been Pretending About
The Invitation Came With a Cruel Plus-One, and I Realized My Ex-Husband Still Wanted One Last Chance to Humiliate Me
Part 5 of 12
