Goodbye, Mr. Regret

Or maybe, after all these years of living as a wealthy socialite, she'd simply grown too used to a life of comfort and privilege too unwilling to go back to working

hard.

That had to be it.

All that talk about divorce, about being able to support herself, about making delicate paper cuttings and drinking cheap bottled water-it was all just a show for his benefit, a ploy to get his attention.

No wonder, this time, she'd left Henry sick at home, and came alone to Capital City without asking his permission.

That comic-style painting of *The Grand Canal, Venice*-she'd seen it in their house before. She must have kept quiet about it, saving it for this very moment.

If Ines was her mentor, how could Jessica not be following Ines's recent exhibitions?

He realized, with a jolt, that he'd never truly understood his silent little wife.

So calculating. So composed.

For seven years, everything between them had been quiet and uneventful. He'd thought she was content being his dutiful, behind-the-scenes wife.

All because he hadn't taken her to that school event for parents and children.

That's when it started.

hadn't stopped

longer satisfied with being his

last one, were meant to force

forward, closing the

as if a

No. No!" Jessica signed it out three times, emphatic and unyielding. Seven

warm and vulnerable, against the cold,

you'll be Mrs. Lawson-show up, smile, follow my

her heart shatter into

actually expected her to go to her mentor-to recommend

did a man have to be, to

signed furiously at him. "I'll do

is it?" he said, the edge

she had a reasonable request, he wasn't above granting it.

catching his eye, she'd become Mrs. Lawson, the most distinguished woman in Riverside City-a leap in status

"Divorce."

word with the same steely resolve in her

He pressed his tongue against his teeth, jaw

he spun back to her, staring Jessica