Chapter 18 - The False Victory
Dinner was simple.
Pasta.
Bread.
A bottle of sparkling water.
Isabel slept in a bassinet beside the table.
Nathan washed the dishes afterward.
Badly.
Emma watched him struggle with a frying pan.
“You built a global logistics company.”
“This pan has no supply chain.”
“It has soap.”
Nathan looked offended.
Emma laughed.
The sound surprised both of them.
For one evening, they did not discuss Olivia.
They did not discuss Whitmore Global.
They did not discuss lawyers.
Nathan told Emma about the cottage.
Emma told Nathan Isabel hated being swaddled.
Nathan learned where the extra diapers were kept.
At eleven, Isabel began crying.
Nathan lifted her.
“May I?”
Emma nodded.
He walked slowly around the room.
Isabel quieted against his chest.
Emma watched from the couch.
A dangerous hope rose inside her.
Maybe this could work.
Maybe leaving had finally changed everything.
Maybe the worst was over.
Nathan placed Isabel in the bassinet.
Then he sat beside Emma.
Their shoulders almost touched.
“Emma.”
She looked at him.
“I don’t want to ruin tonight.”
“Then don’t.”
Nathan smiled faintly.
“I just wanted to say thank you.”
“For dinner?”
“For letting me exist in the room.”
Emma’s eyes filled.
Nathan slowly stood.
“I should go.”
“You can stay.”
The words escaped before she examined them.
Nathan froze.
Emma immediately clarified.
“On the couch.”
“Of course.”
They both laughed nervously.
Nathan slept downstairs on the sofa.
At three in the morning, Isabel cried.
Emma opened the bedroom door.
Nathan was already standing beside the bassinet.
Their eyes met in the dark.
For one brief moment, they looked like a family that had never broken.
That terrified Emma.
The next morning, Nathan made coffee.
Emma sat at the table.
“I need to tell you something.”
Nathan immediately sensed the change.
“Okay.”
“I’m not moving back to New York.”
His face fell.
“I know.”
“I mean permanently.”
Nathan looked down.
“Okay.”
“I want Newport to be home.”
He nodded.
Emma continued.
“And I don’t want to resume our marriage simply because you’re behaving differently now.”
Nathan’s jaw tightened.
“I understand.”
“I need my own money.”
“My own work.”
“My own home.”
“I need a life that doesn’t disappear inside yours.”
Nathan looked at her.
“You should have all of that.”
Emma swallowed.
“So whatever this is.”
She gestured between them.
“It starts from zero.”
Nathan stared.
“Zero?”
“No husband privileges.”
“No wife obligations.”
“No assuming.”
She took a breath.
“If we try anything, we date.”
Nathan’s eyes filled.
“Date?”
“One dinner at a time.”
His smile appeared slowly.
“I can do that.”
Emma raised a finger.
“And Nathan?”
“Yes?”
“If you ever make me wait two hours at a restaurant again, there will not be a second date.”
He laughed.
“Understood.”
The marriage had not been restored.
May you like
Something more difficult had begun.
They were going to discover whether two people with eight years of history could learn how to choose each other without relying on history at all.
