Page 45 of Heartbroken Husband
He let out a heavy sigh but finally nodded and sat up straight again. “Okay, I’m willing to play devil’s advocate with you. What should you have done differently, huh? Walked into a room full of Morris and Weatherby lawyers and told them to call it off?”
“Yes.”
“On what authority?” he asked, his head shaking as he held my gaze. “By the time that deal was in motion, we couldn’t even reach the tip of what they were offering. They were pushing it through at lightning speed and Weatherby’s brokerage was a giant at the time. The slabs of it they cut off and put on the table?—”
“I still could’ve tried.”
“No. You wereexcludeddeliberately.” His gaze never left mine. “God, Zach. They made you and Dad sign an NDA about your relationship with Adeline before the marriage even went through because they didn’t want complications. They knew exactly what you were to each other.”
“Yeah, but?—”
He didn’t let me finish. “Once that was signed, you couldn’t have touched those contracts if you tried. Not legally and not without blowing everything up and hurting her even more.”
I let that sit for a minute, knowing deep down that he was right but rejecting the truth anyway. “I still should have done something.”
“You did what you could with what you had.”
“It wasn’t enough.”
“No,” he said simply. “It wasn’t, but that doesn’t mean it was your fault.” Nate stood, walked around the desk, and reached out to give my shoulder a quick squeeze. “You didn’t make thatmatch, Zach. You also didn’t get their business into such deep shit that a deal had to be made immediately, either. None of this is on you.”
I grunted but didn’t say anything.
“Keep your head up.” He patted my shoulder before dropping his hand away. “For what it’s worth, the trust accounts are a good idea. It won’t fix everything for those girls, but it’s still an amazing thing you’re doing for them.”
I nodded. “Yeah. Thanks.”
He took a step away from me, then walked back around the desk, but paused when he got to my door. “Take some vitamin C and zinc. We need you back at the office.”
I glanced at him. “That’s your best medical advice?”
“That’s my brotherly advice.”
I finally cracked a smile. “I’ll treasure it always.”
“You should,” he said, opening the door. “It’s all you’re getting from me. As much as I love you, Emma is the only oneI’msetting up a trust for.”
With that, he winked and strode out, quietly shutting the door behind him. I exhaled deeply once he was gone, knowing that talking to him about it wasn’t exactly the same as getting Adeline’s consent, but at least it was another step forward.
And right now, that felt like the best I could possibly ask for.
CHAPTER 18
ADELINE
Finally back at work, I felt like a person again rather than just a petri dish. Amber was back too, wrangling the girls and their home-schooling schedule, and working hard to catch them up on what they’d missed. The girls themselves were still a little sniffly, but otherwise back to creating their usual levels of pandemonium, which meant I was able to return to the gallery and resume my new life.
“You made it,” Debra, my coworker, cheered when I walked in. She was behind the front desk, preparing for a showcase that was coming up and looking like she was elbows-deep in paperwork. “You couldn’t have picked a better time to get back either.”
“You know, looking at all that paperwork is making me feel a bit woozy,” I teased as I slid out of my jacket. “Maybe I need to take a few more days.”
“Don’t you dare.” She shot me a playful glare before motioning vaguely around the gallery. “We need to rewrite the labels on some of these for the third time. Apparently,moodysounds better thansomber.”
“Right.” I nodded, doing my best to look completely serious. “Of course. Naturally. Who even thoughtsomberwould work in the first place?”
She laughed. “That would be you and me, young lady. So hop to it. We also need to reorganize the display in the window and adjust the lighting. The artist feels we’re not accentuating theTraveler’sJourneyenough.”
I sighed, unwound my scarf from around my neck, and hung it over the chairs beside hers along with my jacket. Then I got to work. Honestly, as angry as Lu had been when I’d left this morning, it was good to be back.
