moment, envisioning herself kicking and punching him for breaking her heart like this again, but instead she picked her robe off the ground and hurried to their closet. Grabbing the first thing she saw, she got dressed, then pulled out a suitcase and haphazardly threw clothes in the bag and zipped it up. She didn’t know what she was doing. Maybe she’d go back to Luke’s for now and then off to Chicago, or maybe even Malibu. But for now, she needed out of there—away from Ethan, away from this hurt.
She dragged the large suitcase into the sitting area. Ethan hadn’t moved, but he did now, scrambling to his feet. “Where are you going?”
“I don’t know. I just know that I can’t be anywhere near you right now.”
“You’re running away,” he said bitterly.
“You’re damn right I’m running away,” she screamed, gripping the suitcase hard to keep herself steady. “My husband slept with another woman, someone he knew would hurt me. All because he thought I was having a fucking affair with Todd. I wasn’t! I didn’t need to! I had you!” she bellowed and then she started to cry. “I had you,” she sobbed. “God! Why am I not enough for you, Ethan? I went through hell and back fixing me so I could be with you. I almost died giving birth to our sons. I gave you my heart. What more can I do for you?”
She wiped her eyes and headed out of their bedroom, and bolted down the stairs, the suitcase clunking with each and every step. Swiping her car keys from the mudroom, she popped the trunk open, tossed the suitcase in, then went back into the house for her other bags. When she entered the mudroom again, her eyes fell to her sons’ little rain boots, and the tears fell harder. She was determined to see them later, somehow. But first, she needed to get out of this house, away from Ethan. She needed her best friend.
Just before driving away, she took one last look at the house and saw Ethan standing in the garage. She jabbed at the garage opener button and closed the door on him.
She made the short drive to Luke’s, and ringing the doorbell, Mia desperately tried to compose herself before someone answered. But it didn’t work. The moment Luke opened the door, deep sobs tore painfully at her throat.
He pulled her inside, shut the door, and then wrapped her in his arms, letting her cry for a bit before he asked, “Sweets, what happened?”
She pushed out of his embrace. “He slept with her. He cheated on me, Luke! He cheated on me!” she yelled. Without warning, her chest got tight to the point that it felt like it would cave in on her. She put a shaky hand to the space between her collarbone and her breasts, taking deep, steadying breaths. God, she hurt. Nothing in her life compared to this. Not her mother leaving. Not the first or second times she and Ethan parted ways. Not even her miscarriage. Ethan—her husband, the love of her fucked-up life—betrayed her. So much worse than the first time he chose Kristen. Now they were married. Had a family. She never thought she’d have to deal with this again.
“Oh, God, saying that felt like I just stabbed myself in the chest. I don’t know what to do, Luke. I can’t believe he did this. I thought he loved me.” Suddenly she stopped talking when she felt the upheaval start in her stomach. “Excuse me,” she muttered and raced off to the powder room and proceeded to throw up.
The past few hours had made her forget what she had wanted to purchase today—a pregnancy test. This was the reason she’d come home early. She had wanted to find out with her husband by her side. Totally not going to happen now.
“Mia, are you okay?” came Allie’s voice from the other side of the door.
“You wouldn’t happen to have an extra pregnancy test lying around, would you?”
“Seriously?” Allie was hard to shock, but Mia obviously did so with that question.
“Yes,” she groaned.
“One second.”
Not long after that, she heard the rap of Allie’s knuckles on the door.
“Come in,” Mia called out. Allie entered the small bathroom and held the test out for her to take. Mia just stared at it. After two years of trying to get pregnant, this was the closest she’d been to it being true and she didn’t know whether she could face it