A Second Chance at Love

Chapter 1 Parker’s POV I forgot one of the cardinal rules I’ve always lived by: always trust your gut. I had a feeling that something was off between us over the last six months. It was nothing specific, just my gut telling me that something was definitely wrong. My husband was home every night. He was sometimes late, but he always came home. He treated me well, and we still had s*x several times a week. It was just a nagging doubt in the back of my mind that he had changed. I felt like I was missing something that I should have noticed sooner. When I asked him about it, he downplayed my concerns. The next week, he asked if I was ready to have a baby, and that pushed everything else out of my mind. I didn’t know what that nagging feeling was until the night of his company Christmas party last month. The party Nolan suddenly insisted on throwing when he had never thrown a Christmas party before. He has never thrown any kind of party, not in the five years that I’ve known him. He liked to hang out with his friends and have a few beers. That was the extent of it. He has always been a little distant, standoffish. So why he suddenly decided to do this was beyond me. He was even more distant these last few days. According to his friends, he was like that with everyone, and I believed them. Apparently, love makes you forgive a great deal. I should have noticed the issues sooner, but I was still hiding from the world. I think that was how he became so overconfident. He told me about the Christmas party several times, but I didn’t want to go. I was still in mourning. I guess I somehow knew that things between us would turn out badly if I went. But I was given no choice, and I’m glad I went. I could finally see him for who he truly was. He insisted I go, reminding me that the party wasn’t for his employees, although they would certainly be there. I needed to go tonight to show respect for his clients and subcontractors. He wanted them to see us together. What he actually needed was for me to help promote his good guy persona as a doting family man. He never realized that this party would change everything between us. So I went, wearing the dress he bought me and insisted I wear. He told me that he was scared I would show up wearing black, as I was still mourning the loss of my parents. The dress he gave me was dark green, but with the weight loss I've had in the last two months, I was swimming in it. It looked awful on me, but he refused to give me a minute to change out of it. “It just looks a little big on you, honey, but you look fine. You can’t wear black to a Christmas party. Just get in the car, Parker. Stop being childish. You need to support me, not cause me problems,” Nolan snapped out. “It will just take a minute. I don’t want to wear this. I have a dress from last Christmas that I can wear,” I replied. I looked like I was a child playing dress-up in this shapeless dress. “We're already late. Just get in the car. The party started at six. This isn’t a damn fashion show. Plus, that dress from last year was too tight for you, remember?” He threw those words back at me as he walked towards the garage door. I felt like crying at how harshly he spoke, but I tried to let it go. We were both stressed, and it wasn't worth the argument. I wasn’t planning to stay there the whole time anyway. I will go to make an appearance for an hour or so, but that's it. I didn’t want to be there in the first place. I had my keys and wallet in my purse so I could get home the minute I got free. I wasn’t going to subject myself to mindless conversations with people who didn’t want to speak to me in the first place. I only knew two of his employees anyway. His best friend, Ricky, was his lead and the most trusted employee. Ms. Talbert was his secretary and receptionist. They were polite to me over the years, but we weren't friends. The moment we entered, I knew it was going to be a long night. The entire bottom floor, a 2,000-square-foot showroom that housed options from flooring to kitchen and bath, was transformed into a winter wonderland. There were decorations everywhere. Like someone gave a credit card to a thirteen-year-old and told them to go all out. Hanging lights were strung up, even over the showroom pieces. A large Christmas tree stood in the middle of the showroom, grazing the twelve-foot ceilings. This was a much bigger party than I had imagined it would be. There was no way Nolan had come up with this on his own. There were even caterers for this party. He had been struggling until my parents gave him a cash infusion just four short months ago. How much had this extravagant party cost? I figured out who was behind this decision before the door closed behind us. “Nolan,” Ms. Talbert purred out as she approached. She was wearing an over-the-top evening gown. No one else in the room was dressed like her. The bright red color screamed for attention, clinging to her curves like a second skin. She quickly slid her arm through his and said, “Mr. Hamilton was just asking me where you were, Nolan. You know the party started at six. Why are you running so late?” Her glance slid over me with a smirk before saying, “Let me guess, Parker didn’t want to come tonight?” “Actually, Nolan got home late. Surely you know when he left. He arrived home at five-thirty and had to shower and change. I was already ready to go, but thanks for the accusation,” I replied. Nolan was surprised by my snarky reply, but since he didn’t correct her, he had better not correct me. I guess I was still miffed about his refusal to allow me to change dresses. I looked even worse standing next to her. Our late arrival was solely due to Nolan. I wished that I had refused to come. I really didn’t want to be here. Since she decided to start up the moment we walked in the door, I wasn’t going to hold back if she fired back. I could see her nails, the same bright red as her dress, digging into his arm like she wanted him to defend her. Nolan pinned me with a look, but he didn’t correct either of us. After a minute of silence, she broke first. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to offend you, Parker. I just thought Nolan realized that our important clients would want him to be here on time. Go ahead and grab a plate. Nolan told me some of your favorites, so I made sure you had a few options to enjoy while you waited for him. I’m sorry that you’re still in mourning. I thought that was over after almost two months. I hope you get over it soon. I’m just going to take Nolan over to see Mr. Hamilton. He’s looking at the house designs we put up for the new subdivision. Don't worry, Parker, I won’t keep your husband for long,” she replied. I nodded, but they didn’t wait for a response. I also didn’t miss the snarky way she said, ‘your husband.’ It was clear that she had no respect for me, so I guess she had been pretending before. She wrapped her arm tighter around Nolan’s as they stepped away, locking him against her, and he allowed her to do it. She was acting like she was his wife, not me. That she was the hostess here, and I couldn’t believe the audacity of her pouting like I was the bully here. She started it. They all thought I was a pushover because I didn't like confrontation. I just don’t have the capacity to deal with her right now. I would rather be alone. I looked around the tables, but everything they were serving was too spicy for me. I don’t mind my food being physical hot, but my stomach couldn’t handle spicy things at the moment. None of the offerings on the table was anything I liked to eat. I haven’t been eating much lately, and my stomach has become even more sensitive as a result. I’ve feeling bad for the last month. I’m sure it’s because of the stress I was under. I grabbed a drink to settle my stomach and pulled a chair away from a table to a hidden corner. I was behind one of the rolling displays that had been slid back to make room for the party. I leaned my head against the wall and tried to relax. I let the noise wash over me and tried to ignore the fact that I was still furious at how she spoke to me. If there were so many important people here, why did she try to disrespect me like that in the first place? It didn’t make sense. I stayed there for a while before bits and pieces of the conversations around me filtered through. “Where did Mr. Chambers and Ms. Talbert go? They said they would grab the plans and return. I see his lead, Ricky, at the bar, but I’m about to leave. I was invited here to discuss my home design in depth, not to be left standing here. It's very disrespectful, not just to me, but to you and your wife as well. He left us all just hanging here,” a man’s voice spoke from close by. “I agree, we should leave. They went upstairs and never returned. It's not giving me faith in his work ethic. There's no excuse for this. Did it really take both of them to go up and find our designs? I could tell that something was going on between them. I feel so bad for his wife. Poor thing, I heard she lost her parents recently and has taken it quite hard,” a female replied. Their voices grew distant as they walked away from me. I heard the door close behind them and suddenly felt sick. They wanted high-end homes built, but had been ignored. What was Nolan thinking? Once you anger potential clients, it's hard to get them to return. Unless they loved the designs that he made for them, he had just lost two sales. A loss I knew would be over a million dollars was too much. What the hell were they doing? She acted like this whole party had been thrown to interact with the clients, only for them to disappear and lose two sales. It didn’t make sense. What made sense was the woman's comment about something going on between them. Women could sense when another woman was interested in someone. I doubt she was wrong. It actually made a lot of sense. I stayed in the shadows, walking around the perimeter of the room. I looked through the showroom pieces, and saw Ricky was not just at the bar. He was almost guarding the stairs. Now that I suspected what was going on, how could I let them get away with it? I should show up and see what they were up to with my own eyes. The moment Ricky turned to get another drink from the bartender, I ran up the stairs. I just didn’t realize what I was going to find.