“Bet you looked amazing in that ball gown.” Hannah grinned, lifting Caroline’s hand and kissing her knuckles.
“I wouldn’t know because it never happened.” Caroline noted the confusion in Hannah’s eyes, her only saving grace being the fact that Hannah was the complete opposite of Naomi. People could argue that they didn’t know one another well enough for Caroline to claim that just yet, but Caroline had always had doubts in some way about her ex-wife. She’d always been different from the outset. But Hannah… She was genuine from day one. “I came home that afternoon, hair and nails done. My gown had been hanging up for three weeks. I couldn’t wait to let my hair down and enjoy myself. It wasn’t often that I had the chance to mingle with Naomi and her ‘rich friends’.”
Hannah swallowed, sadness anchored in her eyes. “What happened?”
“Naomi was already home. She strode through the kitchen and told me that our plans were off. I assumed she wasn’t going either, but then she explained that the one ticket she had for me…was being given to her new assistant at the company. Bryce. American. Very pretty.”
“She just gave her wife’s ticket to another woman?”
“Mm. Bryce seemed very fond of Naomi when we bumped into her a few weeks later in town. Very touchy, you know?”
“Do you think something was going on between them?”
Caroline hated to admit it, but she knew it had been. “Something was going on with someone. Naomi hadn’t touched me in about six months at this point. Considering she was very sexual in the years before, she had to be getting her kicks elsewhere. They always say if your partner shows no interest, something is probably happening, right?”
Hannah smiled weakly. “Generally, yes.”
“So, I went up to the bathroom, took off the professional makeup I’d just had done, and had a soak in the bath. She didn’t even say goodbye to me that night. And I knew in that moment that I couldn’t stay for much longer. It was making me miserable. She was ruining my life.” Caroline scoffed. “She stripped me of who I was. That confidence I’d had when we met didn’t exist anymore. I knew I was unhappy, but when I put it to her, she’d tell me she loved me and wanted a future with me. That she married me for a reason”
“So she could repeatedly hurt you?”
“I’m just not sure she ever really loved me. And that’s okay, but I wish she’d been honest from the start. She proposed to me. She asked to move in with me.”
“What made you end your marriage?”
Caroline couldn’t say it was one thing in particular. Other than the fact that she’d woken up one day and realised what was happening. “It was everything rolled into one. I’d spent the week alone after she’d flown out to Greece with her friends and their partners. She called midweek and asked what plans I had for the weekend. I told her I’d arranged to meet friends from work. That didn’t go down very well. She wanted to know which friends, and when I told her, she said I wasn’t to go. That Sharon had always been flirty with me and that Naomi wasn’t home to keep an eye on things. Sharon has a husband and three kids. She’s the straightest woman I know.”
“I know I’ve had the unfortunate pleasure of meeting Naomi, but she’s far more vile than I first thought she was.”
“It wasn’t always that way. But once she started to stop me from accessing my own wage each month, insisting that she take care of our finances via the joint account, I knew it was only going to be downhill. Still, I wanted to try. Because I was a fucking idiot.”
“No, babe. You’re not an idiot. You married a woman you loved and expected the same in return. That’s not idiocy; that’s generally the way a relationship works. I’m sorry she treated you that way.”
Caroline felt a weight lift from her chest. Hannah appreciated her honesty instead of her clamming up. “So, the other week when I had that moment in the kitchen, it was just…sometimes little things take me back.”
“You mentioned the clothes you were wearing,” Hannah offered, squeezing Caroline’s hand. “My clothes.”
“They smelled like you. I couldn’t resist.”
“But it was the clothes that took you back and started that moment you had.”
“It was ridiculous, really. I thought I may have crossed the line.”
Hannah shifted closer to Caroline, holding her jaw tenderly as she leaned in and kissed Caroline. “There is no line for you and I. Be yourself…because I love it all.”
“I really hope you mean that.” Caroline trembled inside. The idea of Hannah walking away was quite frightening. This was one of the reasons why she hadn’t dated since her divorce. The pain of losing someone who means a lot to you. Okay, Naomi had come to mean practically nothing as time went on, but it was the knowledge that Caroline could get her heart broken all over again that had her in a constant state of fear. “Because I’m not sure I could imagine my life without you and Edie in it.”
A tear slid from Hannah’s eye as she closed them. “God.”
“W-what?”
“You didn’t just say me. You included Edie, too. You’ve no idea what that means, Caz.”
“It means I want you both in my life.”
“I feel like we could be really happy. And I know you have your doubts, your reasons for feeling the way you do, but…do you feel it too? At all?”
Caroline smiled, taking Hannah in her arms. “I feel it. And tomorrow, we tell Edie about us. That’s that. I don’t want to hide any longer.”