The Unwanted Wife's Return (Ex-Husband Wants Me Back) novel Chapter 329

Too Busy Being Happy 

ALISTAIR POV: 

The morning light came through the big and huge windows of the hotel suite, soft and golden, and I stood there with a cup of coffee in my hand and a feeling in my chest that I had almost forgotten existed. 

Happiness. 

Real happiness. 

Vesper was back. 

I turned away from the window and looked at the bed. She was still asleep, her dark hair spread across the pillow, her lips slightly parted, one bare shoulder exposed above the white sheet. She looked the same as she had all those years ago, younger, somehow, even though we both knew time had passed. The same delicate curve of her jaw. The same soft rise and fall of her breathing. The same way of taking up space in a room without seeming to try. 

I had loved her for so long that I couldn’t remember what my life felt like before her. 

Not that we had ever been together. Not really. Back then, I was no one. A college kid with ambition and nothing else. No money, no connections, no way to give her the life she deserved. I watched her leave, watched her choose someone else, someone richer, someone who could offer her things I couldn’t even dream of, and I told myself that someday, things would be different. 

Now they were. 

The company was mine. The money was mine. The power was mine. And Vesper was back, divorced and alone and looking at me the way she used to look at me, back when we were young enough to believe that love was enough. 

I took a sip of my coffee and smiled. 

My phone buzzed on the nightstand. 

I glanced at the screen. Mary’s name lit up the display, accompanied by the photo I had set years ago, a picture from our wedding day, her in white, me in a suit that didn’t quite fit. She was smiling in that photo. Laughing at something I had said. She looked beautiful, I supposed. She had always looked beautiful, in a quiet, unassuming way. 

She probably wanted to argue about what I had said to the reporters. That video had gotten out of hand, I hadn’t meant for it to be filmed, hadn’t meant for anyone to see it. But the cameras had been there, and I had been tired, and Vesper had looked so small and scared, and the words had just… come out. 

We’re the ones truly in love. 

It was true. It was the truest thing I had said in years. But I could see how it might have hurt Mary. She had always been sensitive, always taken things too personally. I had married her, hadn’t I? I had given her a ring and a house and a child. What more did she want? 

Nothing had even happened between me and Vesper yet. I mean just a few dinners, a late night drive and her staying in the guest room because her apartment wasn’t ready. That was all. Mary had no right to be angry about something that hadn’t even happened. 

I tossed my phone onto the bed and walked to the closet. 

The suit I had chosen for today was navy blue, Italian wool, custom made. I had bought it last month, before Vesper came back, for no reason in particular. Now I understood why. I had been preparing for this moment without even knowing it. 

I dressed slowly, taking my time. The party wasn’t until this evening, but I wanted everything to be perfect. Vesper deserved perfect. She had waited long enough.