“That’s the problem.”
“Natalie…”
“You thought you got to decide first.”
“I didn’t mean it like that.”
“But that’s what you did.”
He sat down.
For once, he didn’t argue.
After a long silence, he said, “I liked the idea of Seattle.”
I stayed standing.
“I liked that Bennett thought I could lead something. I liked that people were looking at me differently. And once I started thinking about it, I didn’t want to give it up before I knew whether it was real.”
“So you kept me outside the decision.”
“Yes.”
It was the first clean answer he’d given me.
I believed him when he said there had been no affair with Susan.
That didn’t magically fix anything.
“You made another woman the person who knew what you were afraid of, what you wanted, and what you were planning,” I said. “Then you came home and gave me nothing.”
Nathan lowered his head.
“I know.”
“No. I don’t think you did.”
We talked for hours.
Not about whether I would “allow” him to go to Seattle.
He had already committed to the project, and I wasn’t interested in becoming the person responsible for killing his career opportunity.
But I made one thing clear.
“I am not agreeing to move there. I’m not promising to follow you. And if Bennett offers you something permanent, you’re not coming home with a decision and asking me to approve it.”
Nathan nodded.
“We start from zero,” I said. “Together.”
“Okay.”
“And trust isn’t fixed because you finally told me everything after getting caught.”
“I know.”
This time, he sounded like he might actually understand.
Nathan left for Seattle two weeks later.
Susan went too.
They lived in the same company building.
And yes, that still bothered me sometimes.
But oddly enough, Susan wasn’t the person I worried about anymore.
Nathan started calling me before decisions instead of afterward.
