On Halloween, My Husband Bet I'd Never Leave Him, So I Stopped Waiting novel · Chapter 18 of 24

Chapter 18: Russell's Offer

I went to the office in yesterday's sweater, and nobody on the executive floor said a word about it.

The glass walls were full of faces.

Russell stood behind his desk with a cardboard box in front of him and a framed photograph in his hand.

It was our wedding picture, and he put it down when he saw me.

"Close the door," he said.

"No."

"Sylvia, please."

"Everyone out there can see you," I said. "That's why I'm leaving it open."

He came around the desk, and his knees went out from under him.

He knelt on the carpet in a suit that had cost more than my first year of rent, and the whole floor went quiet.

"I'll give it all back," he said. "I'll withdraw the freeze and the petition. I'll sign the beach house to you this morning. I'll tell the board it was a bet I lost on purpose, and that you've been right all along."

"That would be a lie."

"I'll say whatever you want." His voice shook. "You can be co-president. We can stay married for a year, for the look of it, and then you can have anything. Anything you ask for. You only have to ask."

I looked at him for a long moment.

I had waited for years to hear him offer me anything, and now that he had, it weighed nothing.

I opened my bag and took out the worn work shoes I had carried since the day I left the house.

The soles had split, and the left heel had come away from the leather.

I set them on his desk, side by side.

"What's that?" he said.

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