A Husband's Regret (The Unwanted Series)(48)

"It's confusing for her. She'll get used to the new routine soon." His  smile was bittersweet. The server came back for their drink orders, and  after they had ordered, Bryce refocused his attention on her. "What  about you? How are you adjusting to your new lifestyle?"

"It's not that much different from life in Plett. Aside from the fact  that we have money, of course, and I don't really have to work and I no  longer worry about Kayla when I'm away from her." She laughed  self-deprecatingly before shaking her head. "Okay, it's a lot different  from our life in Plett. Anyway, I miss her, of course, but I know that  she's with you and that she's safe." She was half signing every other  sentence, still concerned with the lighting in the place.

"Do you?" he murmured, his eyes intent on her lips.

"Of course," she dismissed airily. "I don't know if I've said it before, Bryce, but you're great with her."

"I didn't think I would be," he admitted awkwardly, shifting  uncomfortably in his seat. "Being around kids is . . . was way out of my  comfort zone. I enjoy them but I don't always feel . . ."

He hesitated and she leaned forward intently, sensing that he was considering his next words very carefully.

"Confident around them," he completed, his voice kind of fading away on  the last word. Baffled, she stared at him for a long moment before  shaking her head.

"I'm not quite sure I understand what you mean when you use the word  ‘confident,'" she said bluntly. "Confident in your ability to take care  of them, you mean?"

"That, and I don't trust myself not to lose my temper around them."  Again she could see how difficult that was for him to admit, and she  knew that she had to tread very carefully here.

"Kayla does like to test my patience," she said with a fond smile. "And I  have lost my temper with her on a few occasions, but it's all about how  you handle the situation, and quite frankly, Bryce, you're a pushover  when it comes to her. She knows that she can get away with way more than  she ever could with me."

The server returned with their drinks and asked if they were ready to  order. They both darted guilty glances down at the menu-they hadn't even  thought about food yet. Recognizing their looks, the girl laughed and  promised to return in a couple of minutes. After they had taken care of  the business of ordering, Bronwyn turned expectant eyes on him, waiting  for him to pick up where he had left off.

Bryce took what looked like a fortifying sip of his red wine before raising his eyes to meet hers.

"You were right when you accused me of keeping stuff from you during our  marriage," he said, surprising her by steering the conversation into a  completely different direction. "Stuff I felt that you didn't need to  know. Stuff I thought you'd see as weakness. Stuff that I was too  embarrassed to tell you. I once told you that you made me feel like an  all-conquering hero, that you made me feel like I could take on the  world. It really was a heady feeling, Bron. I enjoyed being your ‘hero,'  the ‘prince' who had swept you off your feet.

"I never expected to find a woman who made me feel like a hero instead  of the villain I'd always believed myself to be. So, instead of telling  you everything you needed to know about me, I allowed you to think that I  was this perfect man. I spent two years trying to maintain that  illusion and trying to live up to the inaccurate impression you had of  me. When something went wrong at the office, I bottled it up and kept it  from you. I closeted myself away to work it out alone rather than allow  my frustration with whatever problem I had to spill over into our  lives."





  

"Bryce." She was a little stunned by his revelations and tried to gather  her thoughts before responding. "I never expected you to be this  perfect heroic husband. I fell in love with a man, not a superhero."

"You didn't know the real man, Bron," he said heavily. "And that's why I  had to sign those papers. I wanted to give you a chance to get to know  me. Flaws and all. I wanted us to have a fresh start, to go back to the  beginning. I wanted this dinner to be a new beginning for us."

"So, let me get this straight, you agreed to a divorce because you  wanted us to start dating again?" she asked incredulously. Not quite  sure she had understood him correctly.

"Basically . . . yes," he confirmed, and Bronwyn felt like the top of  her head was about to blow off. She actually lifted a hand to her face,  almost certain that steam was billowing from her nose and ears like she  was some maddened cartoon character. Unfortunately their server chose  that moment to return, and Bronwyn waited impatiently while the woman  offloaded the piping-hot, aromatic bowls of pasta and crispy garlic  bread onto the table in front of them. As soon as the server left,  Bronwyn turned her frowning gaze back on the uncomfortable-looking man  sitting across from her.

"And did you really think, after the emotional turmoil of the last few  months, that I'd be on board with this scheme of yours?" she asked,  trying extremely hard to rein in her temper, unable to believe the  absolute arrogance of the man. "And what's this? Phase One of some big  reconciliation plot?"

"There is no such thing," he said quietly. "I was just hoping you'd understand what motivated me."

"You wanted to start a new, honest relationship by deceiving me into  coming out to dinner with you? I mean, what is this if not luring me  here under false pretences? I'm not quite feeling the honesty here,  Bryce," she pointed out sarcastically. He had the grace to look  repentant.

"I didn't say it would be an easy habit to break, Bron," he said  uneasily, and she swallowed down the irreverent giggle that wanted to  burble from her lips. For some unfathomable reason, she was both  irritated and oddly charmed by his flagrant presumption. She felt so  many conflicting emotions that she wasn't quite sure how to approach  this crazy new spanner that he had tossed into the works. Part of her  wanted to move on and rebuild her life without him in it, a larger part  wanted to know why he had such a low opinion of himself. She wanted to  know why he thought he was a villain. She didn't for a second believe  that the man she had fallen in love with had never existed, but it  disturbed her that he clearly thought that. Still, they couldn't keep  going around in circles like this. It wasn't doing either of them any  good.

Bryce, I don't know if I can go another round with you, she signed sadly. It's so exhausting.

"For now, let's try to enjoy our dinner," he suggested. "Nothing more, nothing less. Just dinner. Okay?"

She hesitated for a long moment before nodding with a resigned little sigh.

"Okay. Just dinner."



The rest of the evening wasn't as strained as Bronwyn had expected it to  be after that outrageous conversation. Bryce kept her entertained with  his tales of Kayla's daytime antics. He didn't touch on the  controversial subject of dating again, but it remained there between  them, the huge elephant sitting at the table with them.

The wind was howling when they left the restaurant a couple of hours  later, and a combination of rain and hail was viciously pelting down on  Cal who dashed over to meet them when they paused under the eaves of the  restaurant. The huge black umbrella that Cal held up over his head was  being buffeted by the wind, and Bronwyn didn't have high hopes for its  survival. It was mid-June and winter-which had been late in arriving-was  gleefully showing off its jagged teeth. Cape Town was notorious for its  terrible winter storms, and this one, which had arrived without much  warning, looked like it was going to be one of the bad ones. They  quickly decided that bringing Kayla home from Rick and Lisa's place in  such bad weather wasn't a good idea, and they ducked back into the  restaurant for a few minutes while Bronwyn called Lisa to ask if Kayla  could sleep over. The other woman readily agreed with their decision and  put the sleepy little girl on the line to say good night to her  parents. Kayla sounded happy enough but Bronwyn was naturally worried,  as Kayla had never spent a night away from either of her parents before.  After a few more minutes of reassurance, Bronwyn hung up and met  Bryce's concerned gaze.





  

"You okay?" he asked, and she nodded, blinking back the sheen of tears.  Kayla's first overnight stay away from her parents was a big deal, and  Bronwyn felt more than a little emotional about it.

"She'll be fine." Bryce gave her a self-conscious one-armed hug. Bronwyn  was touched by his masculine awkwardness at the sight of her tears, and  she gave him a wobbly smile as he led her back outside. Once again they  hesitated under the eaves, where poor Cal had been left waiting.

I don't want you to drive home in this weather, he signed urgently.  Bronwyn stared out at the deluge and tended to agree with him. She  definitely didn't fancy driving in this downpour. The near gale-force  winds didn't help matters. She bit her lip as she stared out at their  cars parked by the sidewalk. Unfortunately Bryce had dismissed Paul  before they'd even left the bookshop, stating that he and Cal would  ensure that Bronwyn got home safely.