Behind Closed Doors by Ava Catori Read Free Book Online Page A

quieter life. “I’m sorry,” I finally said. I
didn’t know what else to say. What’s done is done; it
didn’t have to mean anything.
    “ Now
people will be watching, wondering, always questioning if I was cause
for your divorce.”
    “ I
don’t care what people think,” I said. “I know the
truth.”
    “ It’s
not just what people think, it’s that it’s been made
public. My name will be tied to you in an unscrupulous manner. I just
don’t think this is a good idea,” he said. “I’m
sorry, but I don’t think we should see each other anymore.”
    “ Alex,
you can’t be serious,” I stopped my train of thought. “I
understand,” I said solemnly. “If that’s what you
want.”
    “ I
think it’s what’s best,” he answered, not what I
was hoping for.
    “ Very
well, good-bye,” I said and hung up the phone. There was
nothing left to say.
    And
just like that, what I thought would be the start of something
wonderful collapsed before me. It made me sick to my stomach, the
power a single picture had. He was right; people would speculate and
make assumptions about our relationship. It saddened me that it
spiraled out of control.
    I
should have known Harry would call. I let it go to voicemail when I
saw his number. I didn’t have it in me to deal with him right
now. I listened to the message, assaulting me with nasty thoughts,
telling me he should have known all along.
    How
dare he accuse me of something I didn’t do, when all along he’d
been cheating on me? Maybe it makes him feels better, erasing some of
his own guilt. He’d been fucking around with whores half his
age, letting them into our home, barely hiding it from me for years.
And for him to accuse me of this, I was seething. Even knowing he
cheated on me, I remained loyal.
    It
shouldn’t matter what people think, but it did. I sat in lonely
misery, sad that my reputation had been marred, and that my newly
blooming relationship was over.
    This
wasn’t how I expected my morning to start, and with that I
climbed back into bed. I didn’t want to face the day, talk to
anyone, or even go out. My pride was wounded, and as I snuggled under
the covers, I let a few lone tears fall. Maybe it wasn’t love,
but it was certainly worth cheering for, and just like that it was
over. It didn’t seem fair, but then life isn’t always
fair.
    When
I finally dragged myself out of bed for the second time of the day, I
plodded over to my computer and sat down. I could at least take
charge of my life in this manner. A relationship would only get in
the way, I said tasting the sour grapes. I need to focus on a career,
go back to school and stop putting this off. With that, I finally
spent time gathering the information I needed to resume my schooling.
    Once
I started, it took all my focus. It had been ages since I’d
been in school, but here I was being a student all over again. I was
nervous at first, feeling almost out of place, but I knew if I stayed
true to the course, it would pay off in the end.
    Studying
took more time than I even remembered. There were so many details to
remember, but throwing myself into my schoolwork was a great
distraction. I hardly thought about Alex lately, except for the ten
or twelve times a day I still thought about him. There was something
there, but we’d never find out. When he ended things, it was
the last time I heard from him.
    I’d
been sitting in the coffee shop with my books spread out, and lost in
a never ending passage. I barely noticed the man standing a few feet
away staring at me. It took hearing his voice for me to look up.
    “ Alex?”
I stood smiling. “It’s so nice to see you, how have you
been?”
    “ Good
and you? I see you decided to go ahead and get back into school.”
    “ Yeah,
sometimes I feel like a fool and older than half the students, but
I’m enjoying it mostly.”
    “ Mostly?”
    I
laughed, “It’s a lot of work. I don’t have a lot of
free time, but the distraction helps me stay