What did that say about her? About their relationship? Nothing good, she was sure about that. Since when had she been so self-absorbed?

That was going to change, right now.

“I’m glad I didn’t go, Seb. I want to be here with you.”

“Why?” He stood apart from her. Unreachable. Untouchable. “You don’t trust me? You’re still convinced I’m having a wild affair with someone, and you don’t want to leave me alone?”

“No.” She wished she could take that thought back, and she wished even more that she hadn’t voiced it. “I want to be here to support you. You’ve obviously been having a horribly tough time, and you’ve been going through it alone.” Her words were designed to be a bridge, but he didn’t seem inclined to walk across it.

“It’s fine. This is my responsibility, not yours. I’ll figure it out.”

Why was he shutting her out? Was it pride? Or was it that he didn’t see her as a source of support?

Unease rippled through her. “Why is it your responsibility? I know you’re upset that I jumped to conclusions, and I really am sorry, but don’t shut me out.” She silently cursed Alix for planting that seed of doubt in her head the day before the wedding. It had lain there dormant. “We’re a team. What affects one of us affects both of us. When we got married we signed up to share the whole of our lives, not only the good parts.” She ignored the small voice in her head reminding her that there was plenty she wasn’t sharing with him. Her thoughts about the cottage. Her fears that moving to the country might have been a mistake. That was different.

“I’m not punishing you.” He picked up the mail she’d stacked on the table but hadn’t had time to open. “I don’t even blame you. I can see how it might have looked from your point of view. You saw that I was meeting a woman.”

But she should have trusted him. An affair shouldn’t have been her default assumption.

“I jumped to the wrong conclusion. You’ve never given me a reason not to trust you, Seb. I do trust you. I—I want to help. I want to know what happened. All of it. I don’t want you to protect me. I want you to be honest, and I want to do what I can to reduce the stress on you. That’s why I’m here.”

His gaze flickered from the mail to her face. “You want me to be honest? Here’s honest. You being here makes things more stressful, not less.”

“Oh!” She took a step back. He found her company stressful? “But... I’m your wife.”

“Exactly.” He put the mail down, unopened. “If you’re here I can’t focus on preparing for the interview and thinking about jobs. I’m thinking about you, too. I’m constantly reminded of the stakes. The extra pressure is a distraction. It stops me thinking clearly.”

Pressure?

“The stakes?”