She Built His Empire, Then Watched It Burn

3: 3

In the afternoon, I went to the hospital to pick up the results from my follow-up tests.

The moment I stepped out of the clinic, I ran into Maxwell in the lobby.

A woman in a white dress stood beside him.

Hair down to her waist, soft eyes.

It was Ruby Blaine.

His high school classmate, back for only two weeks since her divorce.

Ruby was clutching a medical file in her hand.

Maxwell had a hand on her arm, his head bent as he murmured something to her.

His back curved slightly, and his eyes held a tenderness I had never once seen.

I stayed behind a pillar and watched him guide her across the street with the greatest care.

He pulled the taxi door open for her, and even reached up to shield the top of her head from the car frame.

I didn't go over. I turned and left.

That night when he came home, he carried the faint scent of a white-tea perfume.

He loosened his tie as he spoke, offhand.

"Been talking with a client all day, I'm exhausted. What'd you eat tonight?"

I sat on the couch, not even lifting my head.

"I sent the digital copy of the divorce agreement to your phone. Take a look. If there's no problem, just sign it."

He blew up in an instant, hurling the tie down hard onto the couch.

"Annette, are you done or not? I told you, Dave just posted that garbage on his own. How long are you going to keep this up?"

His gaze fell on the medical file on the coffee table. He frowned.

"You went to the hospital today? Did you see me with Ruby?"

"She just got divorced. She's not stable right now, and she's sick on top of it. I looked after her a little as an old classmate. What's wrong with that? That's completely normal."

"Looking after her means holding her arm, opening her car door, shielding her head?"

Even now, he never once asked why I would have been at the hospital.

I raised my eyes to him, my voice cutting.

"Maxwell, when I had a stomach flu so bad I couldn't even stand, you couldn't be bothered to pour me a cup of hot water."

He froze for a second, then his voice climbed higher.

"How is that the same thing? Ruby's health has always been bad. You just get sick once in a while."

Right as he said it, the doorbell rang.

Maxwell went to answer it.

Ruby stood outside.

Her eyes were red, and she carried a soup thermos in her hand.

Seeing me there, she shrank back timidly.

"Max, I went home and thought about it, and I felt I really should come explain things to your wife. I was afraid she'd misunderstand..."

Maxwell immediately stepped aside to let her in, then shot me a hard glare over his shoulder.

I understood that look.

It meant: don't make a scene.

Ruby walked in and set the thermos on the table.

"Annette, this is soup I made for Max. He drank too much yesterday, his stomach's off, he can't have anything harsh on it."

"And, Max and I really are just old classmates. Please don't read into it."

My gaze stayed on the thermos for two seconds.

So Ruby had been at the drinking last night too.

No wonder he'd sighed the way he did on the drive home.

I smiled a little.

"Is that so? Running to someone else's home in a nightgown in the middle of the night to explain yourself. Are you afraid I'll read into it, or afraid I won't read into it enough?"

Ruby went white, and the tears fell at once.

"Annette, I didn't mean to. I was just scared you'd be angry, that's why I..."

"I'll leave right now. I'm sorry, it's all my fault..."

"Enough!"

Maxwell suddenly shouted, stepping forward to put himself in front of Ruby.

He turned and glared at me.

"Annette, can you not be so aggressive? She came to apologize on her own. What more do you want?"

I watched him shield her behind his body, and my chest ached like a needle driven into it.

"She comes into my home to show off, and you're calling me aggressive?"

"How is that showing off? She just came to explain!"

Maxwell's voice grew louder and louder.

"Ruby just got divorced. Do you have any idea how much she's suffered? Can't you be a little kinder, a little more gracious?"