<b>Chapter 106 </b>


    He was always busy.


    So busy, in fact, that he’d forgotten he even had a wife.


    Elissa took a breath, then turned back to look at him. “How did <i>you </i>know?”


    “I guessed.”


    Frank wasn’t surprised at all when she didn’t even bother <i>to </i>contradict him. Still, it felt like someone had stuffed a sponge into his chest, making it hard to breathe.


    Elissa let out a quietugh. “I thought you’d never notice.”


    He stared at her, the tightness in his chest making his brow furrow. “Am I really that inattentive?”


    “You’re very attentive,” she said, her lips curving into a sharper smile, “but only when Marcia’s watching.”


    He wasn’t much of a husband.


    But he was a model lover.


    She meant every word, yet to Frank, the remark stung with irony.


    He exhaled, trying <i>to </i>force the heaviness from his lungs. “I’ll get her to move out. Soon.”


    “When that happens, I’lle home,” she replied.


    “We’ll see.”


    Elissa gave a wry little smile but didn’t press further.


    Still, those three light words made Frank’s unease worsen, a creeping panic rising up. He reached out and seized her wrist. “What do you mean? You’re noting back?”


    She wanted to nod, wanted to say yes. But the divorce decree she hadn’t yet received held her back. “No<i>, </i>you’re overthinking it.”


    “That’s enough,” she said briskly, ncing at her watch. “Tanya only gave me twenty minutes. I need to go.”


    She pulled her hand free, drew her cashmere coat around her, and strode away without looking back.


    11:10


    Frank slipped behind the wheel, his mind reying the calm, almost indifferent look in


    her eyes.


    She never used to be like this…


    A strange, unfamiliar anxiety crashed over him.


    But whatever Elissa was thinking, she was still his wife–legally, at least.


    The thought brought him a small measure offort.


    As long as he didn’t sign those papers, she’d always be Mrs. Atwater.


    The restaurant was right across from the Murphy Group building. Elissa swung by the underground garage to pick up her car, then headed home.


    She was still scanning her fingerprint at the door when she heard amotion


    inside.


    The moment she opened it, a loud bang exploded in her ears.


    A flurry of colorful streamers fluttered down from above.


    Elissa jumped, only to see Tanya Foster toss aside a confetti cannon and rush over with open arms. “Honey! Congrattions on being single again!”


    Elissa nced around at the living room, decked out in vibrant reds and golds, and couldn’t help butugh.


    It looked less like a divorce party and more like someone was about to get married.


    “Did you spend all day <i>on </i>this?”


    “Not just me.” Tanya grinned, nodding toward the kitchen. “Cliff helped out too. He’s been here since this afternoon.”


    The three of them had all graduated from Vistapeak University. When Tanya first joined thew firm, Elissa had introduced her to Cliff.


    As Tanya liked <i>to </i>say, everyone was a potential client. And Cliff,ing from a well–off family, was definitely a VIP.


    After a few get–togethers, they’d be good friends.


    “No wonder he wasn’t in theb today,” Elissa mused.


    “Of course not,” Tanya said, her tone teasing. “Cliff knows how to prioritize.”


    11:10


    Elissa shot her a look. “Don’t start ying matchmaker.”


    She’d married into the Atwater family, Tanya into the Riley family–both of them had married up.


    As for her and Cliff, their rtionship over the years had always been just right: not too close, not too distant.


    It was a bnce Elissa appreciated.


    “Elissa.” Cliff emerged from the kitchen, apron on, carrying a tter of food like the picture–perfect boy next door. “Tanya said you got the divorce finalized.


    Congrattions.”