Free What is Love? by Tessa Saks Page A

trying?” Ellen leaned back
onto the cushion and crossed her arms. “My God, Jonathan, people give more
notice before quitting a job than you’ve given me after forty years of
devotion.”
    Jonathan turned to
her and raised his hands in surrender. “I’m tired of fighting you.”
    “Then stop fighting
and try harder to be kind. Give us a chance.”
    He shook his head.
“I’ll try counseling, but I don’t see how it can change anything.”
    “At least promise
you’ll try. You owe me that much. Forty years should count for something. I’ve
done whatever you wanted; all I ask is for you to try. Can’t you do that?”
    Jonathan paused and
cast his eyes away from her. “Yes  … I’ll
try,” he said quietly.
    “And stop seeing her
while we’re in counseling.”
    “I can’t. I—”
    “You can. How can
you honestly promise to try and focus on us when you focus on her? For heaven’s
sake, Jonathan, you’re a grown man. Surely to God, you can hold back on sex for
a few months. What are you so afraid of? That she’ll leave? That she only wants
you for your money and will find someone else if you’re not around? Well, if
she loves you, she’ll wait. If she loves you, she’ll understand you have an
obligation to your wife of forty years and your family. And if she doesn’t,
wouldn’t it be better to find out now?”
    Jonathan stood
motionless, staring out the window, his jaw tight.
    “Have you just
forgotten everything you stood for all these years, blinded by puppy love and
hardened with this new cruelty? Do you enjoy being this cruel?”
    He turned, staring
at her for a moment. “You wear me out, honest to God, woman, you exhaust me.”
He stood silent for several minutes. “Okay  … I’ll give you one month.”
    “Three. I deserve at
least three months. I should actually be asking for six.”
    He looked away,
clenching his teeth. She saw his neck and face redden as he tried to control
his anger. He smashed his racquet against the back of the chair. “All right,
you win—you always win, damn you. Three months.” He grabbed the room key off the
desk. “I need some air.”
    The entrance door
slammed with a loud shock. She stood, picked up the washcloths and went up the
staircase and into the master bathroom. Five-star hotel! She reached for some
cleanser and wiped the makeup stains off her cheeks. She studied her reflection
and for the first time felt not only old, but withered. She smoothed her
youth-in-a-thousand-dollar-jar cream on her cheeks and thought about his words,
his feeble attempt to be kind.
    Three months. She
had three months to convince him of his idiocy. It’s not over. I am not
destroyed. I won’t let this hurt me. This means nothing. Ellen wanted to
believe this, but couldn’t. Somehow, those fateful words he’d spoken on the
phone tore through her hopes and left them shredded.
    She walked out of
the bathroom and reached for the phone. She knew exactly who to call. Patty
would know where to find the best counselor money could buy, and Ellen not only
needed the best, she needed a miracle. Like everything else in life, with
enough money, anything could be bought, including a first-rate miracle.

CHAPTER 5
    Sam raced past store
windows on her way to meet Jonathan for lunch. The fresh scent of spring filled
the air and as she wrapped her coat tighter, cool gusts of wind whipped at her
skirt like a sail. Two weeks had passed since she had seen him. She’d heard
from him every day at the beginning of his trip, then nothing until he phoned
her yesterday.
    She stopped as the
fragrant scent of fresh-baked bread filled the air. The Sorbonne Bakery had been
her favorite place to buy treats for Jonathan in the early days. It was her
excuse to see him. She pushed her hands deeper into her pockets and continued
on. He certainly didn’t need any treats now. She smiled, recalling their phone
conversation yesterday and the details of his trip.
    “I knew when we
landed and her luggage