Chapter 171

He’d asked if I could try. Try to like him. Try to see what we could be if it were real. I didn’t have a reason to say no. ‘Alright,’ I said. His whole face shifted. That careful, blank expression he always wore cracked open. His mouth twitched up into a pleased curve. Before he could speak, I cut in. ‘But we agreed on one year. We said we’d divorce after that.’ I’d started having feelings for him for a while now, I knew. But there was a deal, a deadline. It hadn’t been a fairy tale; it was a contract. ‘Yeah,’ he said quietly. ‘We did.’ He looked away for a second, then back at me. ‘But contracts can be changed. Updated. Scrapped.’ ‘So you’re saying the one-year limit’s off? There are still eight months left. Well, seven and nine days.’ His eyes narrowed. ‘You’ve been thinking about it this whole time, haven’t you? Counting down the days until you could leave.’ ‘…I haven’t.’ I had counted. But not because I wanted it to end. I’d wanted time to slow down. Being married to Ashton had bee