Mollie McQueen is NOT Getting Divorced Page 12

  ‘That’s exactly what I was doing.’ Tucking her hair behind her ears, Mollie felt her shoulders relax. ‘But now, I’m a little intrigued to see where this goes.’

  ‘Do you see the difference there?’ Evangelina whispered. ‘Because Max listened to you, Mollie, you delved so much deeper into each other’s emotions than a simple question and answer exchange ever could.’

  Nodding in agreement, Mollie felt her spirits lift as Max gave her a playful nudge.

  ‘We engage in conversations all day long, but only when someone takes the time to properly listen does anything really change…’

  Chapter 20

  Locking her computer screen, Mollie twirled around in her chair as her stomach growled with hunger. Attending Evangelina’s therapy sessions during her lunch breaks meant she had plenty of food for thought, but nothing to actually eat. As such, by the time three thirty rolled around, Mollie was absolutely starving.

  Deliberately waiting until Austin Carter had retreated into his office, Mollie grabbed her bag and made a beeline for the lift. As she made her way through the sea of desks, the sound of laughter drifting out of the staffroom encouraged her to make a diversion. Looking into the room from behind the open door, Mollie smiled at the sight of Beatrice and a couple of girls from HR giggling into their salads. Quiet music played out of the radio behind them, providing the perfect soundtrack to the happy scene.

  When Mollie first joined Payne and Carter, it wasn’t long before she and Beatrice became firm friends. They travelled on the tube together, they devoured cocktails on Friday nights, they even joined a hot yoga class before Mollie decided she no longer had any time to dedicate to after-work activities. Evangelina’s comments regarding how important a positive social circle was came flooding back to Mollie as she smiled at Beatrice and her friends.

  Mollie had never been a woman to surround herself with a gaggling group of girlfriends. Being part of a gang who were joined at the hip and spent their weekends comparing sex lives hadn’t ever been of interest to her, but Beatrice was as close as Mollie had come to having a gal pal of her own. It would be fair to say that Mollie had become something of a loner in recent times. Work, Max and sleep had become her entire routine. They had become the three things her whole life revolved around. Well, until she cut Maximilian out of the loop. Then all she had was work and sleep. Sleep and work. Work and sleep. Suddenly, Mollie saw an obvious contributing factor to her troubled relationship.

  ‘Hi…’ Mollie said cautiously, flashing the three girls in the room a smile.

  Right on cue, Beatrice and her two friends looked up from the table and beamed back at her.

  ‘Mollie.’ Beatrice replied in surprise. ‘What can I do for you?’

  ‘Oh, nothing. I was just saying hello.’

  Beatrice raised her eyebrows and glanced at the other girls awkwardly.

  ‘How have you been?’ Beatrice asked, twisting her blonde hair into a ponytail. ‘All good?’

  Mollie nodded and decided to leave the whole marriage therapy debacle out of the conversation.

  ‘I’m alright.’ Mollie said timidly, taking a step into the room. ‘How are you?’

  ‘I’m good. We’ve just been talking about the new IT guy.’ Beatrice said mischievously. ‘Lucky Lola got stuck in the lift with him this morning. Didn’t you, Lola?’

  Nodding dramatically, Lola fanned herself with a Payne and Carter brochure.

  ‘It was an eye-opening experience.’ She whispered. ‘Let’s just leave it at that.’

  All four of them started to giggle, but Mollie could hear her own laughter didn’t sound as genuine as theirs.

  ‘Have you seen him yet?’ Beatrice asked, looking over her shoulder to check no one else could hear.

  ‘I don’t think so…’ Trying to think of any hot guys she had seen milling around the office lately, Mollie shook her head.

  ‘He was at the launch party with Peover Finance.’ Lola said, her eyes gleaming. ‘He was the one in the tuxedo?’

  ‘I didn’t attend the Peover Finance party.’ Mollie said regrettably.

  ‘He went to the press conference last week?’ The brunette added. ‘At Ashford House?’

  Shaking her head again, Mollie shrugged her shoulders.

  ‘He always eats from the jacket potato stand on Forest Street?’ Beginning to sound slightly irked, Beatrice held her breath as she waited for the penny to drop.

  ‘Sorry.’ Mollie said dejectedly. ‘I don’t know him.’

  The three women stared back at her vacantly before Beatrice broke the silence with a forced cough.

  ‘Would you like to join us?’ She asked, motioning to a spare seat at the table. ‘We’re currently trying to hunt him down on Tinder.’

  There was a time when Mollie would have dived into that chair and chuckled her way through the dating listings, but she simply shook her head once more.

  ‘Thanks, but...’

  ‘Too busy?’ Beatrice finished for her.

  ‘Something like that.’ Hearing the lift doors ping open, Mollie took this as her signal to leave. ‘I better get going. Enjoy Tinder hunting.’

  A chorus of goodbyes came back at her as she stepped into the lift, but as the doors started to close, Mollie stuck out her foot to stop it.

  ‘Beatrice, if you ever fancy a cocktail after work, you have my number!’ Mollie yelled, before quickly removing her foot when the man next to her gave her a frown.

  Offering him a smile as the doors closed once more, Mollie realised how much of a loner she had allowed herself to become. Just the mere idea of socialising made her feel on edge. It put her so far out of her comfort zone she would rather avoid it altogether, which is exactly what she had done for the past few years.

  As the lift took her down to the ground floor, Mollie began to understand Max’s preference in meeting his friends online. The virtual world was so much easier to succeed in. It didn’t judge, it didn’t have unreasonable expectations of you, and it didn’t require a hundred percent of your attention at any one time. You could continue friendships without having to leave your house, without having to take time away from the office, and without having to put on a bra. Automatically reaching for her bra strap, Mollie discreetly attempted to smooth it out. She hated Max being right, but this time, she was starting to believe he was onto something.

  Stepping out into the foyer, Mollie cast her mind back to Evangelina’s parting words for the day and exhaled thoughtfully. Their task for that evening was to list their past five arguments and determine who, if anyone, was truly at fault. When Evangelina first informed them of their homework, Mollie thought she had it nailed. Naturally, every argument was Max’s fault. Wasn’t it?

  Most recently there was the infamous red-sock-in-the-washing-machine fiasco. Mollie’s blood still boiled when she recalled pulling her dressing gown out of the washing machine to discover it was a patchy shade of pink. She had told Maximilian countless times to wash their white garments separately, but like everything else, it went straight in one ear and out of the other. Mollie was entitled to shout at him for ruining her beloved robe, right? She was within her rights to call Max every name under the sun and get her revenge by cutting up his favourite pair of socks, wasn’t she?

  Walking to the food van, Mollie felt her confidence waver as she remembered the look on Max’s face when he discovered his slashed Sunday Funday socks in the bin. Looking back, Mollie realised that perhaps she was a little petulant. Maybe she could have simply reminded him, once again, that red socks in the laundry result in ruined lingerie and jumped straight online to order herself a replacement. Maybe she could have recognised that Max had genuinely tried to help with the chores and focused on the positives rather than the negatives. And maybe she didn’t have to drag out her sulky teenager act for three days over a cheap polyester dressing gown that gave her static shocks and cost twenty quid from the market.

  After exchanging a handful of coins for a steaming box of halloumi fries at the fo
od van, Mollie began to retrace her steps back to Payne and Carter. Her love of halloumi reminded Mollie of yet another disagreement they had engaged in recently. For their last anniversary, Max had promised Mollie home-cooked halloumi fries and subsequently tried to palm her off with cheddar sticks because they were a couple of quid cheaper at the supermarket. His frugality didn’t normally grate on Mollie, but on that particular night, she lost it. Not even the fact that he had gone to the trouble of displaying said cheddar sticks in a rather poor heart shape was enough to bring a smile to her face.

  Max might have spent hours in the kitchen trying to create what he perceived to be the perfect meal, but it wasn’t what Mollie had asked for, and because of that, she believed her evening was ruined. Although, maybe refusing the cheddar sticks out of principle was a step too far. Maybe she should have eaten them anyway because Maximilian had gone to so much effort. Now that she really thought about it, perhaps it wouldn’t have killed her to have simply been grateful for having a husband who had tried so hard to make things nice for her.

  Dropping her fork into the box of fries, Mollie closed the lid and continued walking. Despite feeling totally justified in her actions at the time, Mollie had a sense of remorse settling in her stomach. Of course, Max had his faults, he had bloody tons of them, but Mollie was now realising she wasn’t exactly fault-free herself. For so many years, she had been blinded by what she perceived to be Max’s many flaws, without giving so much as a single thought to her own bad behaviour, but she was starting to realise all was not as she first believed…

  It was no secret that Mollie wanted to separate for a whole bunch of trivial reasons rather than a big ugly one, but Evangelina’s homework had made Mollie understand that Max probably had a list of his own. And if his increasing number in therapy was anything to go by, his list was growing longer by the second. Mollie’s hopes of walking away from Max and into the arms of a unicorn-riding knight in shining armour, who cleaned like a demon, cooked up a storm in the kitchen, made mountains of cash and covered the duvet in rose petals every night now seemed so foolish.

  It was clear for anyone on the outside to see Mollie wasn’t the perfect wife as much as Max wasn’t the perfect husband. She was a workaholic who made fun of her husband’s beliefs and ridiculed his business ventures, although, some of them were pitiful. She was anally retentive over how the house should be kept, and she micromanaged every area of their marital life, because naturally, she knew how to do categorically everything better than Maximilian.

  Suddenly losing her appetite, Mollie abandoned her lunch in a waste bin and pushed open the door to Payne and Carter. If she wasn’t perfect, how could she expect Max to be? For every towel he left on the floor, she gave him a negative comment in return. For every attempt he made, no matter how small, Mollie’s knee-jerk reaction was to ridicule. She had become so focused on his faults that she had completely ignored her own. The irony is, until they ventured down this path, Max was seemingly oblivious to Mollie’s many flaws. Either that or he loved her enough to ignore them completely. The second option was the one that brought a lump to Mollie’s throat.

  Evangelina promised that she would know in seven short days if their marriage was worth saving, and as Mollie took the stairs back to her floor, she was starting to believe that maybe, just maybe, it was…

  Chapter 21

  When Mollie returned home from work last night, she was surprised to find an empty house. Without the sound of Max hollering at the PlayStation, the tiny mews felt smaller than it ever had before. Seemingly taking Evangelina’s advice, Max had decided to brave the outdoors and meet his friends in the local pub. Drinking a few pints with his pals was something Max hadn’t done for years, but the cold reality of a hollow home gave Mollie a glimpse of what her life would look like without him in it.

  Upon discovering Max’s note on the fridge, Mollie ran herself a bubble bath and listened for any signs of him returning. As the hours ticked by, the quietness in the house became overwhelming. Given their lack of social lives, it had been years since Mollie fell asleep without Max by her side and she couldn’t pretend she enjoyed it. After complaining about the dreaded hypnosis tape for the past decade, Mollie often dreamt of a time when she could drift off in peace, but it wasn’t the seventh heaven she anticipated. The clock on the wall became infuriatingly loud, every sound in the room was heightened, and the empty camp bed annoyed her every time she looked at it.

  For hours on end, Mollie replayed past arguments in her mind. For the first time, she saw where her own actions had contributed to their problems. That night, as she rethought each and every aspect of her marriage, marked a turning point for Mollie. She awoke with a determination to change her behaviour, in the hope that Max might change his too.

  Looking at him now, as he whistled along to the radio while cooking breakfast, Mollie couldn’t help but smile. It would appear an evening with his friends had done Max the world of good. His eyes were bright, his voice was light, and his positivity was filling the kitchen. Mollie still had to collect his dirty laundry from the bathroom floor, but on that particular morning, she chose to let it slide.

  ‘One cappuccino.’ Maximilian announced, placing Mollie’s favourite mug in front of her. ‘Enjoy.’

  ‘Thank you.’ Mollie smiled gratefully. ‘No lecture about dairy this morning?’

  ‘Nope.’ He answered, sitting down opposite her and flipping open the newspaper. ‘You are your own person and capable of making your own decisions.’

  Raising her eyebrows in surprise, Mollie allowed the sleeves of her dressing gown to fall over her hands.

  ‘Did you have a good evening?’ She asked, raising the mug to her lips.

  ‘I really did.’ Max said enthusiastically. ‘It’s been so long since I last saw the guys. I hardly recognised them. Being around actual people for a change made me realise just how much I’ve missed socialising. I finally felt like me again. Do you know what I mean?’

  Mollie nodded in response, unable to stop herself from beaming happily.

  ‘I expected Evangelina’s course to focus solely on our relationship, but I’m starting to understand why she also wants us to spend time alone.’ He mused. ‘You were right, Mollie. You were totally right. We had become shadows of our former selves.’

  Mollie placed her mug on the table and listened intently as he spoke, marvelling at the sudden difference in her husband.

  ‘I’ll always be sloppy, messy and a bit eccentric, but not leaving the house for days at a time? Being glued to the television from morning until night? Not appreciating who or what I have around me?’ Shaking his head, Max breathed out loudly. ‘That guy wasn’t me, Mollie, and I’m sorry for allowing myself to become him.’

  ‘That’s okay.’ Mollie mumbled, unable to believe what she was hearing.

  ‘I’m also sorry for initially resisting this separation.’ He continued. ‘If we have a problem, it needs fixing.’

  ‘I wholeheartedly agree.’

  ‘We both deserve to be happy and we both deserve to be the best version of ourselves. This therapy has been worth it for that realisation alone.’ Max said easily. ‘Like you explained at the start, we can deal with this nicely. If we walk away from this as friends, what better way to end a marriage?’

  Mollie smiled in agreement, debating whether or not to tell him she was also sorry.

  ‘We don’t have to cut up one another’s clothes, bad mouth each other on Facebook or remove our name tattoos…’ Max continued, taking a bite of toast.

  ‘We don’t have name tattoos!’ Mollie giggled.

  ‘Then we’ll save a ton of money on laser treatment!’ He replied, joining in with her laughter. ‘Do you remember when you wanted us to get those? Doesn’t sound such a good idea now, does it?’

  ‘I wanted us to each get an M&M tattoo!’ Mollie protested, banging her hand on the table playfully.

  ‘Because?’

  ‘Because it’s my favourite chocolate.’ She answered
coyly.

  ‘And?’ Max pressed.

  ‘And… it could also signify Max and Mollie.’ She mumbled, looking him in the eye and smiling.

  ‘Well, you know what they say about tattoos, Mollie. Act in haste, repent at leisure.’

  ‘I don’t regret any of my tattoos. At one time, they were exactly what I wanted.’ Mollie retorted smugly.

  ‘You wanted eight martinis on our honeymoon before you threw them up on the beach. And I know for a fact you regret those because you spent the rest of the trip telling me so.’ Max teased, offering her a slice of his toast. ‘Face it, we all have regrets.’

  ‘Like the time you tried to fill our duvet with hemp to save the planet?’ Hiding her grin behind her mug, Mollie plucked a slice of toast from his plate. ‘I had hemp stuck in my belly button for weeks afterwards.’

  ‘I’ll admit the hemp wasn’t my finest idea, but I’ve been working on something lately that will blow all my other concepts out of the water.’ Max said confidently. ‘Watch this space.’

  Not wanting to ruin their nice morning, Mollie decided to keep her opinion on Max’s business ventures to herself. She couldn’t remember the last time they had made pleasant conversation over the breakfast table. Their usual morning chat involved tearing strips off one another about Mollie’s job and Max’s lack of one. Just exchanging a few pleasantries, as per Evangelina’s core rules, really did make an enormous difference. Instead of shooting him daggers for double-dipping into the jam, she was thoroughly enjoying his company.

  ‘I want you to promise me something.’ Max said unexpectedly, turning down the volume on the radio. ‘We’re halfway through our initial course with Evangelina. Whatever the outcome at the end of this week, I want you to promise me that we will remain friends.’

  Mollie stared back at Max and nodded, touched that he was finally showing his emotions.

  ‘Of course we can remain friends.’ She replied, reaching over the table and giving his arm a comforting squeeze. ‘We will always be in each other’s lives, Max, whether that be as man and wife or forever friends.’