The Mischievous Mrs. Maxfield

Chapter Twenty-Two: Starlight And Shadows

Dedicating this chapter to LittleWildReviews for featuring a wonderful review of my other book Virtue and Vice in their website. You guys do a great job of giving us writers a good, hard pat on the back that keep us going.

A/N: Hello everyone! Another week, another chapter! This one will be a bit different from a lot of what you've seen in the previous chapters. There's a slight shift in focus here, but hopefully, it's one that will thrill your romantic hearts all the same.

Thank you, as usual, for your continued support. Vote and comment! =)

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“It’s over. I’ve given him everything he could ever ask of me and that hasn’t been enough. If he doesn’t love me enough to be with me, then I wash my hands of him.”

Tessa and I glanced at each other as we waited to see whether there were more dramatic declarations coming from Anna.

She lifted the small espresso cup to her lips and took a sip, her blue eyes narrowing as she stared into the distance.

Guess that was it.

“Well,” I slowly said, hoping I had the appropriate words to say. “I, for one, am glad to know that you finally realized you deserve more, and that you won’t settle for less this time. If you’re what Jason wants, he’s going to have to make some big decisions and fight for you.”

A look of desolation flickered across Anna’s determined face as her composure crumbled for a moment but she shook her head firmly and took a deep breath. “A divorce is going to be an all-around mess for him but I won’t be the dirty secret he hides away anymore. I don’t want to live with that plus my guilt, which is already bad enough.”

Tessa and I shared discreet and relieved glances again.

Anna definitely had a better grip on her resolve this time around.

Since the incident during my bridal shower, things have been rocky between her and Jason. She’d turned him away for a while but apparently, she’d taken him back, which we hadn’t really known about until she called me and Tessa up this morning for a ‘post-super-final-break-up-ever therapy session with her sisters’, as she’d referred to it.

We met up late in the morning, went shopping (well, Anna shopped and Tessa and I convinced her to only buy half the mall, not the whole mall), got our hair and nails done, and finally refueled with some late lunch at the outdoor patio of a new hip cafe.

While I wasn’t personally prone to curing my heartaches with retail therapy and an hour-long prettification at the salon (because I didn’t really have the luxury of having them growing up), I went along without complaint because Anna needed it, and because it felt good to have sisters, and I would indulge them in this if it made them happy.

Besides, it distracted me from my own troubles.

It had been a day since my last conversation with Brandon over breakfast about Nicole and Zach. 

I’d promised him I’d let him deal with it and I’ve struggled with that promise.

It was hard to keep still when there were a thousand questions running through my head every waking minute of the day. But I had to endure it because I promised.

Brandon came home on time later that day and spent the evening with me. There was a fragility to that time we spent together—needing, craving the company and comfort of each other, but also carefully avoiding the fissure that currently divided us so we didn’t fall into it.