Marcie regarded her with a wry expression. “Cheerful is in my job description. Do everything around here, keep a perfect house, fix perfect meals, raise perfect children, and smile no matter what. Heaven forbid, anyone see a crack in the image of a perfect family.”
It was the first time that Emily had detected even a trace of bitterness in her friend. “I had no idea you were so unhappy. I mean I know he drove you nuts at work, but I thought everything else was solid. I guess we’ve both done a pretty good job of covering, even with each other.”
“Some things you don’t share, not even with best friends,” Marcie said. “And I’m not unhappy. Not really. I’m just having one of those days, I suppose.” She waved off the comment before Emily could respond, then forced a smile. “Enough about me. Are you really going to ask Derek for a divorce?”
“Ask? No, I think this is one time when I’ll tell him how it’s going to be.” She gave Marcie a rueful smile. “You know the really sad part? He’ll be shocked.”
“Then maybe that will give you a chance. You’ll have his full attention.”
Emily shook her head. “It won’t be enough to make him change and since I can’t change my expectations, it’s too late. I just have to accept that it’s over.”
To Emily’s regret, she was right. Derek was stunned when she told him she intended to file for divorce, but he didn’t even waste his breath protesting that he would change when they both knew the words would be little more than empty promises. He just quietly packed his bags and moved to a suite in a hotel closer to his office.
The kids seemed to take it in stride, too, since little changed around the house. They’d grown accustomed to their father being gone on the most important occasions of their lives. He hadn’t been in town for a birthday or school assembly or awards ceremony in years.
The divorce was accomplished with a minimum of fuss and hardly any lingering resentment. Perhaps that was the saddest part of all.
As she and Derek left the courthouse, she regarded him closely for any sign that he regretted the dissolution of their marriage as much as she did. Instead, he looked as if he were in his usual hurry to be somewhere else.
“I don’t suppose you want to go somewhere for coffee and talk about this,” she said.
He studied her blankly for a minute. “This?”
“How our lives are going to change now. When you’re going to see the kids. That kind of thing.”
“I thought we’d work it out as we go,” he said. “We don’t need some sort of formal agreement, do we?”
Emily sighed. “No, of course not.”
He gave her a distracted kiss on the cheek as if they were separating till dinner, rather than for the rest of their lives.
“I’ll be in touch,” he said. “Call me if you or the kids need anything.”
She watched him stride off and tried to remember how she’d ever fallen in love with a man capable of such a total lack of emotion. The last time she’d seen Derek’s eyes shine with excitement or enthusiasm, he’d been talking about some deal he’d made, not looking at her or the kids at all.
She told herself she was well rid of him, that her future was brighter without him, that she could cope with raising the kids on her own since she’d been doing it that way for years anyway.
By the time she got home, she’d convinced herself that she was just fine. She threw her purse on the kitchen table, walked outside and crossed the yard and went straight to Marcie’s back door. It opened before she could knock and Marcie held out her arms. Emily stepped into the embrace and burst into tears.
“It’s over,” she whispered. “In the blink of an eye, it was just over, almost as if it didn’t even matter.”
“Of course it mattered,” Marcie said fiercely. “You and Derek had some good times, you know you did. And you have two amazing kids. How could that not matter?”
“It doesn’t to Derek,” she said with a sniff.
“I doubt that.”
“He walked away without a second glance. He was already thinking about his next meeting.”
“Which is exactly why you divorced him,” Marcie reminded her. “But that doesn’t mean it was always that way. You’re allowed to mourn the good memories, even while you curse his black soul for making you so miserable.”
Emily grinned through her tears. “Curse his black soul? Where’d you come up with that one? Did Caitlyn sneak one of my historical romance novels over to you? Besides, he hasn’t made me miserable. He left me feeling nothing and that’s a thousand times worse.”
“I’m sorry,” Marcie said, then gave her a hesitant look. “I baked a cake for the occasion.”
Emily laughed. Leave it to the ultimate planner to have thought of that. “Of course, you did. Are we having a party, too?”
“I have half-a-dozen people on standby if you want one,” Marcie said. “Should I call them?”
“What the hell,” Emily replied. “Somebody needs to mark the occasion. Make those calls.” She hesitated. “What about the kids?”
“Paula and I have that covered. Dave’s taking all of them out to a ball game and pizza after. We thought it would be a good distraction for Dani and Josh. Okay with you?”
“What would I do without friends like you guys?”
“Have a pity party all alone?” Marcie suggested.
“Probably,” Emily agreed. “But there wouldn’t be cake.”
Chapter 5
Marcie was at her wit’s end. If Ken had been obsessed with work before, he was now a thousand times worse. Hardly a night passed when he didn’t have a business dinner and even weekends were spent playing golf with clients, then hanging around the club to have drinks.
At first, she’d anticipated that she’d be as busy as he was, entertaining the way she’d always done, but to her dismay he took his clients to restaurants. It was rare that he even thought to include her. It left her at loose ends and with the kids getting older, she had fewer and fewer demands on her time. Neither Evan nor Caitlyn appreciated a gourmet meal, when they could grab a burger with their friends. She’d even cut back on her baking, since she was almost the only one eating the cookies, cakes and pies. She still kept something on hand for Emily’s visits, but lately both of them had started worrying about their weight. More and more, brownies, lemon bars and decadent chocolate cake were guilty pleasures reserved for special occasions.
Today, though, she simply didn’t give a darn about any of that. She’d baked a key lime pie, her personal favorite, and if she wanted to sit at the kitchen table and eat the whole thing, then who was going to stop her? She was on her second slice when Emily walked in.
“Uh-oh,” she said, observing the pie. “What’s wrong?”
“It has just dawned on me that I am obsolete,” Marcie told her, taking another bite of pie.
Emily frowned at the comment. “By whose assessment?” she asked as she poured herself a cup of coffee from the fresh pot Marcie had brewed a few minutes earlier.
“Mine.”
“Okay, let me get this straight. You’re a wife, a mother, an active volunteer in the school and yet somehow you’ve decided you don’t matter?”
“Pretty much,” Marcie said, shoving