One of the hardest things she had to face was that she really hadn’t been heartbroken over losing Peter as a husband. She’d been hurt by the fact that he’d dropped wanting a divorce on her without any warning. She’d mourn the loss of the person she thought was her partner in all aspects of life.
But missing the man himself? Not so much.
And the passion between them? She wasn’t sure that had ever been there. She’d felt more passion toward Baby in the past two weeks than she had in nearly ten years of marriage.
The lack of passion was on her, not Peter. She’d settled for that, never tried to change it or figure out what was missing.
But all the things he’d done in the two years since their divorce? The responsibility for that fell squarely on his shoulders. And whatever love she might have felt for him had been stomped out with every unnecessarily selfish thing he had done.
“He’s my man now,” Nancy reiterated.
Quinn sighed. There was more passion in Nancy’s one sentence than Quinn had felt for Peter in years, if ever.
“You know what? You’re welcome to him. And I wish you the best of luck. But your man got me fired and blacklisted because he decided I was guilty of things I didn’t do. Then, your man decided to clear out a bank account I’d forgotten he was still listed as a co-signer on.”
“What are you talking about? Peter would never do any of those things. He’s not a thief.”
The thing was, Nancy was right. Peter wasn’t a thief, but he was a pathological narcissist. Everything was about him and what he considered to be right. He honestly didn’t see anything wrong with the things he had done to Quinn, because, to him, it was for the greater good.
But there wasn’t any point in trying to explain that.
“When Peter gets back into town have him contact the bank. Don’t call me again, Nancy.”
“Now you listen here—”
Quinn disconnected the call. That was twice she’d done that now, and it felt pretty good.
It was time to cut out the old. Time to take charge of her life. She’d decided that two weeks ago during the long drive from Massachusetts to Wyoming. She promised herself she wouldn’t remain trapped in the pattern she’d found herself in when she’d given Peter all of the control.
If she was waiting for an apology from him, it was never going to come. And to be honest, she didn’t need his apology. He didn’t hold that type of space in her head or heart anymore. His apology wouldn’t change anything that had happened between them, or the situation she’d found herself in. All she could do was move forward.
Experience the experience.
Go on a date with someone with more passion in his pinky than Peter had ever felt toward her. So what if the relationship had nowhere to go? Quinn most certainly could take a little time and have fun for once.
She made herself a cup of peppermint tea and walked over to the window to look out at the mostly darkness.
Fun. It always seemed so frivolous, not something she was interested in. But had she shied away from fun because she wasn’t interested in it—all caught up in the forward progress of her career and making a name for herself in academic circles?
Or had she avoided it because she was afraid she wouldn’t be very good at it? God knew, Peter would never be described as fun. And she’d chosen him as her husband, so what did that say about her?
A movement out at the edge of the trees caught her attention and dragged her thoughts back to reality.
Maybe it was the hurt dog. She went and grabbed a can of tuna out of her pantry. Did dogs like tuna? She had no idea but figured if it was hungry enough, it would eat anything. It was worth a shot, at least.
She dumped it on the plate and walked outside toward where she’d seen the movement.
“Here doggy. Come here, I have some nice fish for you. I promise I’ll buy some real dog food tomorrow while I’m in town, but I don’t want you to be hungry.”
She didn’t feel nearly as stupid as she thought she would talking to a dog she couldn’t see.
When the dog didn’t come for the food, she walked back to stand at her front door. Maybe it was wary of people and wouldn’t come nearby if she was around. But