Page 18 of Temptation
“I fell down some stairs and sprained my wrist and ankle,” Viki said quietly. He noticed that she was very subdued.
“Did you go to the hospital?”
“No. I’m pretty sure it’s just sprained. I’ll make an appointment to see Dr. Kauffman tomorrow.” She got up and started limping down the hall. “Are you coming to bed?”
“You know, I’ve been enjoying sleeping alone. You hog the blankets and don’t leave me enough room, so I think I’m just gonna move over into the spare bedroom.” He popped a carrot into his mouth and watched her get flustered.
“Seriously?” Viki shook her head, and Tenn couldn’t understand her outrage. She hadn’t let him touch her in close to two years. “Married couples are supposed to sleep in the same bed!”
“Actually, there’s a lot of research and proof that sleeping separately builds healthier relationships,” Tenn spoke calmly. “Besides, it’s not like we’ll miss out on much.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” She was staring at him like he had kicked her puppy.
“When was the last time we had sex or even cuddled?” Tenn shrugged. “We’re practically just roommates anyway.”
“Are you saying you want to divorce me?” Viki’s breath started coming in short gasps, and Tenn knew it was only because if he asked for a divorce, she would be homeless. The house was his premarital property, plus the prenup protected it, and unless there were kids, he didn’t owe her any money unless she was unemployed. “That’s why you wanted me to get a job, so you wouldn’t have to pay me money!”
“I didn’t say anything about a divorce,” Tenn said quietly. “We have to do couples counselling first, remember?” Under the prenup terms, unless there was infidelity, counselling to attempt to repair the issues was mandatory.
Tenn wasn’t rich. His parents were though, and they had done the same prenup for each of their children when they got married. Del’s was a little different with his income as a hockey player in the NHL and had been updated when he had kids, but otherwise, James and Gigi Aston wanted to make sure their money would be protected when it was passed on to their children.
“I don’t understand where all this is coming from!” Viki wailed. “What did I do?”
“Really Viki? Do we have to rehash the last two years?” Tenn snapped. “I’m tired of being treated like an afterthought for you! I have done nothing but support and back down and bury my feelings for the last two years. I’ve encouraged you to do whatever you felt you had to do to help you work through the grief and put my grieving on hold to make sure you had the support you needed while receiving none in return. Well, you reap what you fucking sow. Congratulations, I no longer want to be a major part of your life, and I definitely don’t want you to be a major part of mine. So, you can either try to win me back or find a marriage counsellor tomorrow; we’ll have our ten sessions, and then you can move out.” He stepped closer to her, eyes narrowed on her face. “And if you even think about quitting your job, you won’t get a red cent from me until the divorce is finalized, and that’s only if a judge decides you are quitting wasn’t to spite me. So, what do you want to do here, Vik? Because I am done, so the ball is in your court.”
“I was trying to find myself!” she yelled. It was the same old excuse, and Tenn was tired of hearing it.
“And did you?” He asked, genuinely curious if the thousands of dollars of his money she had spent and all the time avoiding him and partying like a teenager actually helped her.
“No!”
“So, it was a fucking waste of my money too. You spent two years distancing yourself from me and neglecting our marriage, letting me work myself to near exhaustion to support us while showing no remorse about emptying the bank account to the point that I couldn’t pay the bills without dipping into the retirement account that I started for both of us – that you didn’t contribute to at all - and for what? Nothing! You know what? You can sleep in the spare room. Let me know when the counselling session is.” Tenn turned and tried to walk away, but Viki grabbed his hand.
“I want to fix it! Tell me what to do!” Her eyes were teary, and her nose was snotty and red. Tenn stared at her for a few seconds, trying to figure out why he married her. She was about as far from what he found attractive at that moment as possible.
“Well, to start, you can figure out how to fix it!” Tenn pulled his arm out of her grasp. “Why should I be the one to glue the pieces together? I’m not the one who broke it.”
“I’m going to call your mom!” She whined desperately. “She’ll make you -”
“My mother won’t make me do anything. You’ll no longer be her favourite daughter-in-law if you tell her what you’ve spent the last two years doing, and believe me, if you don’t, I will, with the receipts to back it up.” Tenn growled, incensed that she would even think to bring his parents, especially his mother, who adored Viki, into this mess and use her to have a go at him.
“This isn’t fair!” She stamped her foot, wailed, and hopped in pain from stamping her sprained ankle.
“I’m going to bed.” Tenn managed to leave the room this time. When he got upstairs, he pulled out his phone to plug in and saw he missed a text from Quinn.
How do you feel about bowling?
Bowling is fun. Why?”
I have a recovery anniversary on Wednesday, and I thought bowling would be an excellent place for you to meet Rilla (officially) and Bishop. Plus, it’ll be fun to watch Joel and Viki squirm.
I’d love to come, but given the argument I just had with Viki, I don’t know if she’ll join us.
Oh. Well, that’s too bad. We can talk about it tomorrow if you want.”
Sure Flacara. I’m looking forward to it. Sleep well.
You too.