Chapter 3

Owen was already seated at the table, sipping on his black coffee. Emily smiled when she approached him. There were lines between his eyes that she had not noticed there earlier.

He got up and pulled out a chair for her to sit.

Still feeling a little flustered from her two seconds with Mark in the stable, she reached for the glass on the table and poured herself water from the pitcher.

"I thought you would still be sleeping. I didn't expect to see you down so early." Emily smiled at Owen.

“Your bed was empty when I turned; I decided to come down and look for you.” He had on that salesman smile, and Emily knew instantly that something was up. She was always able to catch him like that. The smile that didn’t reach the eyes.

As she continued to look at him with adoration, Owen took an envelope from the table; Emily hadn't noticed it when she sat down; she'd been so flustered that she had missed the brown envelope with Owen's golden pen that he took with him everywhere.

She knew it.

"I'm going to need you to sign these for me." Owen said, pushing the brown envelope to Emily's side.

"What are they?" Emily asked, opening the already opened envelope, and took out the banded document.

Owen did not answer but only watched as his wife read the front page and watched as her eyes bulged out.

“Are these my shares?" Emily asked, not because she couldn't understand what was written there but because none of it made sense.

"It’s been two years; don’t you think it’s time we merged our assets together?" Owen asked, getting frustrated as he always did when they discussed her shares that she did not want to transfer to his company.

Deep down she knew that was one of the things that kept their marriage cold; maybe if she gave in to what she knew Owen wanted, she could finally put the past behind and find love with him, but Owen only knew half of it.

It was not that she did not want to give him the shares, it was that the shares she was desperately holding onto meant something to her, they represented love found and love lost, they were not just shares on paper, but a life, a family and unity. Holding onto them was just the tip of the iceberg.

Emily took a glass of water from the table and drank. She looked around on the nearby tables, hoping no one looked their way and had heard what they were talking about.

"We talked about this" She said, fanning herself with her hand. She was running low on excuses.

The once charming husband she left in their room that morning sleeping peacefully was now glaring at her, only now he was not so charming.

“It’s all we been doing for two years now, talking.” Owen raised his voice but seemed to get hold of his outburst. "It’s either you sign them now or they will become part of our divorce settlement” Owen said.

Emily wanted to make sense of what was happening but a lot seemed to be going on all the once.

“You would divorce me over my shares?” if his desperation wasn’t so sad, she would be laughing.

One moment she was looking at Owen staring daggers as her, she heard what he was saying. The only thing she wanted to do was to get some fresh air and find a bigger pitcher of water to quench her thirst.

She pushed her chair back to stand and go out but instead she collided with a tray carrying hot coffee, that spilled all over her chest.

She staggered backwards feeling her chest burn, her head spinning.

The next thing she was on a the floor. The last thing she saw was Mark's handsome face contoured in a worried expression.

When she came to, she could hear people talking around her, but she knew that she was not in a dining hall anymore.

She was sleeping on a bed. She opened her eyes, this was not her room and Owens room. She was covered in a white silky sheet, this was up a notch for a ranch. When she peeled it away from her body, she realized that she was naked from her waist up.

Goodness.

The two men hushed as soon as they realized that she was awake.

She recognized the other mans voice. it was Mark.

"Mark?” she asked as soon as he came closer.

"I'm sorry Mrs Anderson, someone spilled hot coffee on you and I called the doctor, just to be sure but you in the clear now. No permanent damage." At the mentioned of her surname she looked around but she couldn't find where Owen had gone.

Mark noticed her puzzled look and cleared his throat.

"As a way of apologizing, we have upgraded you to a suite, Mr Anderson had an important call come in and has gone out to answer it, I’m sure he will be joining you soon, I’ll ask one of the maids to bring in your luggage.."

Emily wondered what could have been so important to Owen that he would leave his wife passed out on the floor from shock.

She was embarrassed on his behalf, now everyone with eyes and ears could tell that their marriage was nothing but a façade.

"Thank you Mark. I think I will be fine. Don’t worry about the shirt. It was old anyway. Can I have someone bring in my stuff, I want to go and find my husband."

*

Maybe she should leave some money to replace the cups, it had been her fault entirely. She hadn't been looking where she was going when she collided into mark. It shouldn't be his fault.

Emily thought as she walked to her old room.

The place was small enough that one minute he was a clerk at the front desk and the next he was a waiter. Anyone in their right mind could tell that the guy probably earned peanuts.

Lost in thought about Mark, she had forgotten about Owen for a second until she noticed that their bedroom door was ajar. And she could hear a female voice coming from her bedroom.

She needed to talk to Owen about the divorce; why he woke up that day and demanded it.

The closer she got to the door, the more she thought she recognized the voice, but being so far away in the country, it was impossible that she was hearing who she thought she was until the voice quieted down.

She cautiously opened the door. In case Owen was talking to someone important. But it was their weekend getaway.

"Gwen?" she said the minute she walked in. The voice she had been hearing was nothing other than that of Owen's secretary talking to someone on the phone.

"Hello, Mrs. Anderson. Sorry to disturb your weekend. Mr. Anderson said to collect some of his files that he left behind," she said and picked up files that were scattered on the bed.

"Work that couldn't wait until the weekend is over?" She said, feeling a little strange at finding Gwen in her bedroom.

Gwen had always treated her with respect and had never given her any reasons to suspect that something could be going on, but now finding her after Owen had asked for a divorce, anything was possible.

"Where is Owen?" Emily asked.

Gwen turned beet red and looked around the room. “Mr. Anderson just left."

Emily followed her eyes and realized what she had been looking at; the room had been turned upside down, and cabinets were opened. She moved to the closet in the corner where they had kept their luggage, and sure enough, Owens was gone.

“What do you mean gone?” Even as she asked Gwen, she had a pretty idea of what had happened.

“I’m sorry Mrs Anderson.” Gwen said and left her there standing in the middle of the room.

Emily didn't know when he had packed his clothes, between the times she had been at the stables or when she was passed out at the dining hall. Owen had found the opportunity to pack his belongings and was now gone.

He had finally walked out on her, on their anniversary.

Too stunned to even comprehend what had just happened, she threw herself on the bed and stared at the ceiling.

*

For how long she sat there, she couldn't tell. She could only watch as the bright morning light shift and turn into a golden afternoon glow, and then it was all quiet, the crickets started to make noise, the light faded, and the world was black again.

"Mrs Anderson?" someone called from outside her door. She stretched her legs and they cracked uncomfortably.

She smoothed her clothes as best as she could before she swung the door open.

It was Mark.

"Good morning." her voice creaked, she cleared her throat and composed herself.

"I'm sorry to disturb, but it’s still night" he seemed uncomfortable, unlike that morning when he had been showing her around.

"When I didn’t see you downstairs for lunch, I thought I should bring your supper."

Emily shifted her weight to one leg, touched by the simple gesture.

She took the tray from him and put it on the table, Mark switched on the light and almost stopped in his tracks.

“I’m sorry.” He didn’t know what he was being sorry for, although the ranch was very small and the girls talked, he hadn’t expected to see that much mess.

“There is nothing to be sorry for, I’ll get this cleaned up.” She said with more bravado than she felt.

Something else popped to her mind, “Mark?"

“Yes Ma’am.” And turned to give her his full attention.

"Did my...did Mr Anderson leave his credit card details at the front desk when he left?" this was something she never had to worry about before. But given the situation.

"You don't have to worry about that for now," Mark said and looked genuinely touched about her situation. But that was just that, there was not much he could do, what could he do?

The guy probably didn't earn enough to cover himself and now he wanted to make her feel less stressed about her situation.

"I’ll see what I can do" she said.