Silence. Of course, now that I wanted Darcy to say something, to condemn the woman who had abandoned me, my sister had nothing to say.
“She just left? She didn’t say anything to you?”
“Not a word. Went upstairs to find her to . . .” Tell her I thought we had something. Ask her if she wanted things between us to continue. God, I’d been such an idiot. “And she’d cleared out. Signed the papers and got the first plane out.”
“You sound pissed off.” Darcy’s tone had mellowed. Surely she and I were on the same side?
“I am pissed off. She could have at least said goodbye.”
I glanced across and Darcy was staring right ahead of her, her mouth twisted. “I thought . . . I mean, I know it was an arrangement and everything, but you seemed to get on really well.”
I let out an incredulous huff.
“And I thought it was, you know, physical between you two.”
I scraped my hand through my hair. “It was . . . and maybe more.” She’d been my partner, my confidante, my friend as well as my lover. Nothing from my side had been faked. “For me, at least.”
“Did she just say she wasn’t interested in things going any further after Grandfather’s death?”
“We didn’t even discuss it. I was going to ask her whether she wanted to keep seeing each other but—”
“You never discussed it?” Darcy asked.
“I didn’t have a chance. She just left as soon as she signed the loan documentation, which transferred the loans to her business to her.”
“But you said that she signed the papers. Surely you said something when you handed those over?”
“Giles gave them to her.”
“What?” Darcy shouted.
“He’s going through all the paperwork. I went to talk to her about it and she’d gone.” Why the fuck was my sister pissed at me?
“Jesus Christ, you’re an idiot.”
I slammed my laptop lid down. “I know. I shouldn’t have trusted her, but she fulfilled her end of the bargain. Those loans had to be transferred.”
“Oh my God. I can’t believe we’re related. Are you really that stupid?” She twisted so she was sitting sideways in her seat, facing me.
“Darcy, if you’re just going to insult me, I have no real interest in continuing this conversation.”
“For some unknown reason, Scarlett liked you. It was obvious how much she cared about you to anyone who bothered to look.”
I’d thought so, too. But Darcy was ignoring the facts. Scarlett had left.
“She came with you when Grandfather died. She didn’t have to. She had plenty of excuses to stay in America. And given the smile you’ve worn since you met her, I think you liked her too.”
“You’re forgetting an important detail,” I said.
“Oh? Like how you’re forgetting that Scarlett, who’s been your wife in every sense of the word for months, got served with divorce papers by some stranger without so much as a thank you from her ungrateful shit of a husband?”
“I told you—I didn’t know! Giles took care of it.”
“How would she know that?”
I paused for a second, trying to work through the implications of what Darcy was saying.
“Have you been hit on the head or something? Scarlett was probably devastated.”
Devastated? Darcy shook her head. “She thought she was building this great relationship with a man and then the first chance he gets, he ends it and doesn’t even have the decency to do it to her face.”
“But I didn’t end it. I don’t even want to end it.”
“How would she know that? All she knows was that she was in England, supporting you, and the second Grandfather was buried, got handed her marching papers.”
I let Darcy’s words sink in. Had Scarlett run away because she hadn’t gotten what she wanted, rather than because she had? My sister never had a problem telling me if she thought I’d behaved insensitively or I hadn’t taken her feelings into account. “Why wouldn’t she say something? Why would she sign them? She just ran off.”
“Because she’s humiliated.” Darcy sounded exasperated.
Perhaps Scarlett had fled because she’d been hurt—abandoned me only because she’d thought I’d given up on her. “You think maybe she didn’t want the divorce?” I held my breath; was there still a chance for us?
“If you insist on being so bloody obtuse then I really can’t continue this conversation. For the first time in your life, you have a shot at a real relationship. With a woman you like and trust. Frankly, you don’t deserve her if you’re not going to give her the benefit of the doubt, and realize how much she’s hurting.”
“Hurting?” All my thoughts were competing in my head. Could Darcy be right?
“Well, aren’t you?” Darcy asked.
Every part of me hurt. I didn’t work properly without Scarlett. She made me into a better man, into a man who could make connections with people, care about people—love. “I miss her.”
Darcy snorted. “Exactly. When have you ever said that about a woman? And you just threw it all away.”
“Is it too late?” I asked, my body tensed in panic.
“I have no idea. But if she means something to you, I suggest you leg it back to New York and beg her forgiveness.”
Before Darcy had finished her sentence, I’d hit the button to take down the screen between us and Lane. “We need to turn around. I need to get to Manhattan.”
“That’s some diversion, sir,” Lane replied.
Except it wasn’t a diversion. I hoped it would be the route to my future.
Twenty-Seven
Scarlett
“So, just like that, you’re divorced?” Violet asked, leaning over the table at the Hotel Gansevoort in the meatpacking district. I counted the black and white tiles over Violet’s shoulder, from our table to the door. I didn’t want to think about what had happened. In fact, I just wanted to forget the whole thing. The sooner everything became official, the better.
“The paperwork still has to go through.” Sadly, I already understood the legal process of divorce. It wouldn’t take long, but it didn’t happen overnight. My second divorce and I wasn’t even thirty. If my first ex-husband hadn’t made me feel so worthless and boring, I probably wouldn’t even have a second ex-husband. I’d wanted it to be an adventure. Instead it had been a disaster.
“And he didn’t mention it?” she asked.
“No, but like I said, our deal was done. The estate passed and I was no longer useful.”
Violet shook her head. “That just doesn’t seem right. You seemed so happy together in England. The way you looked at each other and touched one another, it was like you were a real couple.”
I’d much rather be drunk than having this conversation. The kinda drunk where I couldn’t remember my own name. I picked up my cocktail and took two huge gulps.