From the Heart (Sweetbriar Hearts #3) - Nora Everly Page 0,3

until I couldn’t do it anymore. But this was beyond too much.

I choked on a sob and swiped my hand under my eyes to catch the tears, wincing as the overhead light caught on my rings. A gold wedding band, the tiny speck of a diamond engagement ring Tom had proposed with, and on top, the three huge diamonds he had insisted I wear when he felt he’d finally made it. I used to enjoy seeing them sitting pretty on my hand, a little reminder of the family we had created together and how far we had come when no one thought we would last. I extended my hand out to look one last time before slipping them off and placing them on the counter. All the while memories—happy, sad, and everything in between—swirled around me as my eyes darted over the house. This was like a death. My life as I had known it was over, and it was flashing before my eyes.

I slammed my eyes shut and collapsed on one of the bar stools at the island to rest my cheek against the cool granite, just for a minute. I needed to get the pounding in my head to stop before I left. My heart raced and grew burdened with sudden stress as it sank inside my body.

I had been planning my exit.

I wanted a divorce.

What in the frick was wrong with me?

“Oh, honey. Don’t become a cliché. A sad, scorned little woman.” Bethany grinned at me as she swanned down the stairs. Clearly, she thought she had won a great prize in Tom. Sure, he had oodles of money, a nice car, and this huge house in town. He had all the necessary requirements one looks for whilst digging for gold. But she had missed one pertinent fact: she was destined to become me, and he would eventually find somebody to replace her. The circle of life for cheating assholes.

I ignored her. Nothing I could say would get rid of that smug, smackable look on her face, and I wasn’t willing to expend the effort on a catfight. He wasn’t worth it, and I was beginning to wonder if he ever had been. I stood up and grabbed my purse.

“Bye now,” she said with the bitchy smirk she always gave me whenever I saw her in Tom’s office or my coffee shop.

I muttered under my breath as I left, “Just wait until he cheats on you, dumbass.”

I had some of my headache prescription in my office. I could hide out in there until I decided where to go for the night, or until school let out and I had to tell the boys. Their relationship with their dad was already on shaky ground; this would make the bottom drop out from underneath it. My boys weren’t completely oblivious to what went on in this house, no matter how hard I had tried to cover it up or brush it away with jokes and deflection. Our family therapist was making a fortune off my guilt and inability to just freaking leave.

Without sparing her another look, I found my keys on the table and headed to the front door. If she wanted him, she could have him. How long would it take until he started running her down like he’d been doing to me over the last few years? I almost felt sorry for her, but her motivations had been clear since the moment I’d met her, so I was okay with letting her reap what she had oh so carefully sewn.

I’m was done with him. Finally.

D-O-N-E. Done.

I slammed the door behind me as I left and immediately regretted it when my head started pounding again. Startled, I looked up and saw a car pull up to the curb with a squeal a split second before a large man jumped out.

Jake.

Headed my way with a face like thunder, storming up the front walkway as I drifted down. “Violet, I have to tell you something and this isn’t going to be easy to hear—”

“Not now. I have to get out of here.” I tried to step to the side to go around him, but he blocked my path with his tall, broad frame, and angry energy.

His eyes softened as they met mine and I quickly looked away. Sympathy would only make me start crying again. “This is important, and it’s about Tom. I don’t know how to tell you this—”

“What? That he’s been cheating on me with Bethany for the