“Penny, please don’t cry.” Professor Hunter reached over and wiped my tears from my cheek.
“Don’t touch me.” I pushed his hand away. “How could you do this to me? Why didn’t you just tell me then? I trusted you!”
“Because Isabella and I are over.”
“What? You’re divorced?” I sunk into the passenger’s seat. Thank God. I wasn’t a mistress. I felt the weight fly off my shoulders. “You still could have told me.”
He sighed. “It’s just a matter of finalizing the paperwork. I would have told you once it was official. I just didn’t want to upset you for no reason.”
“So you’re technically still married right now?”
“Technically, yes, but I’ve already signed the divorce papers. It hasn’t been a smooth process. But I have no connection to Isabella at all. We’re done. We’ve been done for a long time.”
I stared at him, waiting for him to elaborate. Why was he so horrible at talking to me? “Well, what happened?”
He pressed his lips together. “We didn’t love each other.”
“Then why did you get married in the first place?”
“It’s a long story.”
I turned toward him and pulled my legs up onto the seat. “I have some time to spare.”
Professor Hunter looked uncomfortable. He leaned toward me slightly and put his hand on the center console. “Do you really want to talk about this, Penny? All you need to know is that it was a mistake and it’s over.”
“Please. I need to know.” I put my hand on top of his. I wanted him to open up to me. I didn’t want there to be any more secrets between us.
Professor Hunter squeezed my hand. “Okay.” He sighed. “Isabella’s parents are good friends with my parents. Ever since we were little, our parents always pushed us together. But I just never clicked with her. She was always so cold.
“In high school, I started dating a girl named Rachel. Whenever Rachel came over my house, my parents were completely dismissive. It was clear that they didn’t think she was good enough to be part of our family. They always made her feel so unwelcome. When I finally confronted them about it, they told me that if I didn’t break up with Rachel they wouldn’t pay for me to go to college. And I’m not proud of what I did. My life with them was all that I knew. I didn’t want to have to be on my own. I didn’t know how to live without money. I was young and stupid.”
Professor Hunter was looking down at my hand. He rubbed my palm with his thumb. The pain on his face almost made me start crying again. He must have loved Rachel. But I didn’t feel jealous, I just felt sad for him. I wanted to climb over into his seat and hug him.
“I broke up with Rachel the next day. And my parents began to make it clear that I was expected to eventually marry Isabella. Isabella was the only one they would ever approve of. They said that it was in my best interest to marry someone that wasn’t after my money. I was so unhappy. When I told you that I was drunk most of college, I was serious. I completely lost it. I spiraled to the bottom. But my parents just kept telling me it was what was best. So eventually I just accepted the fact that I had to marry Isabella. Instead of worrying about it, I threw all my time and energy into the tech company I wanted to start. And when it blew up, I asked Isabella to marry me, because that was the next step I was supposed to take. Before I even realized what was happening, the wedding was planned, and everyone had been invited. I knew I didn’t love her, but I walked down the aisle anyway. And I made promises to her. I vowed to keep those promises. And I did. I tried so hard to make it work.
“But she didn’t love me either. She enjoyed dressing up and playing the part of my wife. Isabella loved the lifestyle, but she didn’t love me. She was cold when we were alone. We barely talked. I knew she slept around. I tried to ignore it. I wanted for us to work out because our parents wanted us to be together. Neither one of us were happy. But she was still my wife, so I kept trying to make it work. I was always loyal to her. I tried to make her happy. When I decided to sell my company she freaked out. She couldn’t believe that I’d rather spend my days doing something meaningful. And she definitely didn’t support my decision. It’s funny, because my parents told me we should be together because she wasn’t after my money. But really, the only reason that Isabella married me was because I had money.”
I bit my lip. So that’s why he wasn’t close to his parents. They had controlled his whole life. Professor Hunter had told me his story while staring down at my hand. I squeezed his hand and he turned to me. There was so much pain on his face. Failing in his marriage had clearly devastated him. Maybe not living up to his parents’ expectations had devastated him more, though.
“I’m sorry,” I said. I cared about him. I didn’t want to see him upset. He had this way of drawing me in.
“No, I am. I should have told you. Being here teaching, being with you, this is what I’ve been missing. I don’t want this to mess up what we have.”
I looked into his eyes. He was so sincere. He rubbed my palm with his thumb. His light touch sent shivers down my spine.
“I’ve always been told what to do. I’ve never had to make choices. But I chose you. And when I walked into my bedroom and you were gone it hurt like hell. My whole life has been painful, living in a way that I didn’t want to live. But nothing was as painful as you leaving and not talking to me. Seeing you in class was torture.”
“I couldn’t see you either. That’s why I left class yesterday. I could see that you were feeling all the pain that I was feeling. I’ve never been so heartbroken.”
He leaned over and took my chin in his hand. “Don’t do that to me again. I’ll tell you whatever you want to know. No more secrets.”
“Okay.” My heart was beating fast. He was going to answer all my questions. I needed to make sure that him liking me wasn’t part of the reason why he was getting divorced. “When did you file for divorce?”
“Last year I walked in on Isabella having sex with someone else in our bed. I filed for divorce the next day.”
“And came here?”
“Yes.”
He was back to his short answers. I remembered Melissa telling me that Professor Hunter had been fired from his last job. She had made a joke about how he had probably punched the dean in the face or something. “There’s a rumor that you got fired from your last job.”