Deal Takers (Dealing with Love 2)

“What were you hoping would happen from here, Adam?” My voice is barely above a whisper. It’s taking every ounce of strength that I have not to cry right now. He’s already taken so much from me. I refuse to give him my tears, too.

“Baby, this doesn’t have to be the end. I love you, and I know you love me. I’ll figure out a way to end things with Norah. I swear, my attorneys are trying to find a loophole so I can divorce her as soon as humanly possible.”

If it’s possible to physically feel your heart breaking, I’m pretty sure that’s what’s causing this pain in my chest. “And until then?”

His smile couldn’t be any wider, already giving me my answer. “Until then...we keep going as is. If you want, you can move your things into my apartment. It’s right next to the hospital and we could be together more often. We can get married as soon as my divorce is finalized.”

“And how long will that take? A few months? A few years?”

“I don’t know. My attorneys said it won’t be easy, so it may take a while.”

“And in the interim—for however long that may be—you would continue being her husband in every way? And I would continue being your mistress?”

Adam frowns. “Mistress is such an ugly word. Why do we have to give it a title?”

“What about the first part of my question, Adam?” I press. “You’d continue being her husband in all the ways that matter? While you and I are still together?”

The sad part is that he seems genuinely perplexed as to why I would have a problem with this. Why I wouldn’t be okay with being the other woman while his wife gets to make a home with him. Have his children. Make love to him.

“Baby, I’d have to keep up pretenses,” he says. “I can’t do anything to make her suspect I’m leaving her until my attorneys have everything together. But that part’s only temporary. You’re the one I want to be with. So much so, that I’d be willing to have another kid. With you.”

“Oh, how considerate of you,” I scoff.

“I’m being serious, Rainey. I know how badly you want children. I’m telling you that I’m okay with that now.”

I roll my eyes. “Adam, we’ve been talking about children for years. Every single time we’ve had the conversation, you were adamantly opposed to it. Little did I know that was because you already committed to giving them to another woman.”

“I never wanted children after Parker.” He shakes his head. “I love my daughter, and I’ll love the new one, too, but they weren’t planned. Norah trapped me by purposely getting pregnant.”

I laugh, probably a little too manically. “Here’s an idea, Adam: Don’t have sex with her! That’s a damn effective method of birth control.”

He looks truly confused. “She’s my wife. I can’t not have sex with her.”

Wow...just wow.

“Let me ask you this: If your daughter was older—if she was Parker’s age—would you be okay with her being in a situation like this?”

He grabs the back of his neck. “No. Of course not.”

“So, then how is it okay for me? For Norah?”

“Because I love you!” he insists. “Norah is a gold digger—always has been. I never loved her, and I never will.”

I open the front door. “Please leave now.”

“What? Baby, no.” His eyes narrow as he looks at my left hand. “Where’s your ring?”

“Somewhere on Vine Street.”

His eyes widen. “What?”

“I threw it away when I was walking home from Pistorio’s.”

“That ring cost me twenty-five thousand dollars!” he yells. “And you just threw it away on a sidewalk?!”

“Yep. It looks like you just put a roof over some lucky homeless person’s head.”

“I can’t believe y—”