He Laughed That He Could Always Marry Again Until He Found Her Wedding Ring on the Floor

Grant fell to his knees on the wooden floor of the cottage.

The powerful, feared CEO of Mercer Development, the man who negotiated hundred-million-dollar land deals without flinching, wept like a broken child at his wife’s feet. He pressed his forehead against the cold wood, his broad shoulders shaking violently.

“I'm sorry,” he sobbed, the words tearing out of his throat. “I'm so sorry, Claire... I destroyed everything. I destroyed us. I didn't see you. I was so blind... so stupid...”

Claire stood three feet away, watching him. She didn't kneel beside him. She didn't touch his hair. Her heart ached for his pain, but the wall she had built around her soul over eight months of silent suffering remained solid.

“Get up, Grant,” she said softly. “Please.”

Grant slowly pulled himself up, using the arm of the small couch for support. He wiped his face with the back of his hand, looking at her with desperate, red-rimmed eyes.

“Come home,” he begged, his voice raw. “Please, Claire. I’ll step down from the company. I’ll sell my shares to Daniel tomorrow. We’ll buy a house here, or in Vermont, or anywhere you want. I won't ever look at a phone again. Just... give me a chance to fix this. Give me a chance to earn you back.”

Claire walked over to the small kitchen counter and poured two mugs of hot water from a kettle, placing a tea bag into each. She handed one to him, her fingers brushing his briefly. Her touch was completely cold.

“You can’t buy back eight months of solitude, Grant,” Claire said gently. “You can’t fix a death with a career change.”

“I’m not trying to buy it back!” he pleaded. “I love you! I have loved you since we were twenty-one years old!”

“I know you love me,” Claire replied, looking up at him with clear, honest eyes. “And I loved you, Grant. I loved you so much that I nearly let myself vanish entirely so you could build your world. But love isn't enough when one person is living in a marriage and the other is just visiting it.”

“I’m not visiting anymore,” Grant cried out. “I’m here! I’m standing right in front of you!”

“You’re here because I left,” Claire said quietly. “If I had stayed, if I had kept quiet, you would still be sitting at that dining table right now, reading emails while I starved beside you.”