Leaving at Noon by Jess Dee Read Free Book Online Page B

large client base and had a substantial amount of money
shoved his way to invest.
    His commission, combined with his own share
portfolio, had provided him and Zoey with a respectable nest egg.
Decent enough to buy the home they’d both loved in Woollahra. A
house with a small garden that was built to be filled with
kids.
    Now work was a mess and the house sat almost
empty. Without Zoey, it felt hollow. The echoes of their vile
insults bounced off the walls, taunting Theo with their ugliness.
The damaged bedroom door mocked him every morning and night.
    Did Theo want the space Zoey had given
him?
    Hell, no. Not for one second.
    Their home was never bought to house just
one of them. It was theirs . His and Zoey’s and any kids they
might have. Yeah, he and his wife may not like each other, but that
didn’t mean Theo approved of her decision to leave. Her needing
space didn’t translate to him wishing for the same thing.
    “ You’re pretty quiet,”
Jared said.
    “ Thinking,” Theo told
him.
    “ There’s nothing to think
about,” Levi insisted. “You’re in the wrong city.”
    “ Barr-o,” Spence said, and
his voice held a warning.
    “ She’s hurting.” Levi
gestured to Theo. “They both are. His being in Sydney is achieving
bugger-all.”
    “ Yeah,” Spence agreed,
“but you can’t force him to go.”
    “ He’s acting like a
dickhead.”
    “ Maybe so,” Spence agreed
again. “It’s still his decision.”
    If Theo didn’t feel so wretched, he might
have laughed at the conversation. He raised his hand. “I can hear
you.”
    Levi wouldn’t let it go. “Christ, Hughesy.
She’s your life. Your wife. Don’t fuck this up.”
    “ What would you have me
do, Lev? Go after her? Demand she come home? Tell her I’m sorry? I
don’t even know what we’re fighting about, so fuck knows what I’d
be apologizing for.”
    “ Yes to all of those,”
James answered for Levi.
    Ha. “And you think she’ll want to see
me?” She’d left him. Walked away to get her space. What did Levi
and James think she’d do if he knocked on Fiona’s door—apart from
slam it in his face?
    “ What idiotic kind of a
question is that?” Levi jumped up. “Of course she’ll see
you.”
    Theo slumped into the couch. “That’s where
you’re wrong. But just for the heck of it, let’s take this one step
further. She opens the door and there I am. What then? What do I
say to her?” Because that, right there, was where Theo failed to
find an answer. He didn’t have a clue what to say to his wife. He
didn’t even have the vaguest idea where to start.
    Greg answered. “How about you tell her the
truth? You’re a jackass for letting her go, lost without her and
need her to come home?”
    “ That’d work,” Jared
said.
    “ Maybe.” Levi shrugged.
“Or you could go back to the beginning and start from
there.”
    The room filled with silence.
    “ The beginning?” Theo
asked cautiously.
    “ Yeah, Hughesy. When she
opens that door, remind her why the two of you fell in love in the
first place.”
    “ Call Fi,” Jared said.
“Let her know you’re coming.”
    “ Good idea.” Greg picked
up his phone and held it out to Theo.
    “ I’ll take you to the
airport,” James offered.
    “ Levi’s right, mate.”
Spencer leaned forward. “You have to go to her.”
    Greg waved the phone in his face.
    “ Call Fiona,” Jared said
again.
    Theo stared at the phone, uncertain. Zoey
had left. She didn’t want to see him. Going after her might be the
best thing to do, but it also might send their already fragile
marriage crashing to its final destruction.
    “ Hughesy—” Levi crouched
in front of him, “—you have to go after her. Go bring our girl
back.”
    Theo rubbed his scar fiercely.
    Greg tapped something into the phone.
“Here’s the number.”
    Feeling no less sure than he had a minute
ago, Theo held out his hand.
    Greg passed him the phone.
    “ Motherfucker,” he
muttered as he stared at Fiona’s contact