“Because you don’t love me,” her voice cracked.
He slumped his shoulders and stared at his feet.Fuck!Not telling her the truth was ripping out his heart.
She scoffed. “I guess I have my answer.” She made her way to the sofa and went to sit down, but like she remembered what had nearly happened there, chose the armchair instead. “This is all my fault,” she repeated as she sank into the chair.
He wanted to go to her, wrap his arms around her, and comfort her, but all he could do was watch the misery etched on her face. “No, it’s not.”
She twisted her fingers together. “I begged you for help. You were only doing what I asked. I’m the one who pushed and pushed. You warned me you couldn’t give me more, and I fell in love with you anyway.” She lifted her face. A tear slid down her cheek.
God, his insides turned cold at causing her pain. He deserved to have his heart ripped out of him just like he’d threatened to do to Owen. Theo sat on the sofa opposite her, dropping his hands between his legs. “When I came here tonight, I had something to tell you.”
“That you were breaking up with me? Got that memo.” She shook her head. “Actually, we were never together.”
In his heart, their relationship had been real. He shoved his hair back away from his face. “I had a visit from Layla this afternoon.”
She frowned with confusion. “Your ex-wife?”
Theo nodded. “She came to tell me she’d remarried and was pregnant.”
“Why would she do that?”
“She wanted to thank me. If I hadn’t made our divorce so easy, she wouldn’t have met her husband and be having his child. That’s all she wanted… to be a mother.”
“And you don’t want children. Is that why you divorced?” She pulled a cushion from behind her back and hugged it.
He rubbed his hands over his thighs. “We didn’t divorce because I didn’t want kids. It’s because I can’t have them.”
She arched a brow. “You can’t have kids?”
He cleared his throat. “I’m…I’m… infertile.” The words hung in the air as they stared at each other.
On an exhale of breath, she said, “Oh. How long have you known?”
“For a while. When Layla and I started trying for a family with no success, we both got tested. I’m the problem.” Telling her was both harder and easier than he’d thought it would be.
She threw her hands in the air. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
He rubbed his palms together. “I only recently told Blake. It’s embarrassing. I didn’t want anyone to know. I felt like such a failure.”
She plucked at the tassels on the cushion. “There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. A lot of men have infertility issues. Was the pressure of treatment too much? Is that why you broke up?”
“We never had treatment.” His fist clenched.
Chloe tilted her head to the side. “Why not?”
“After discussing our options with the fertility specialist, they told us the process could be a long road, and we weren’t guaranteed a successful pregnancy. Layla wanted a family sooner rather than later—she’s almost forty. The possibility of never having a baby was too much for her to handle. So, I ended things to give her what she wanted.”
Chloe’s shoulders sagged. “Theo, I’m so sorry.”
He propelled himself from the sofa. The sympathy in her eyes was why he wanted no one to know.Look at poor Theo. He can’t have kids. Can’t give his wife a family. What a failure.
“And that’s why I’m here. I knew things were going further than they should. I needed to stop whatever’s going on between us because I can’t give you a family. I’m sorry I went too far after you… you—”
“Told you I loved you?” The pissed-off expression was back on her face. He’d much prefer that than her pity.
He nodded. “I’m sorry,” he said again. “I hope you find everything you’re after. You deserve happiness.”
Walking to the door, he opened it. Before stepping out, he paused. Was he hoping she’d call him back? Tell him that not being able to have kids didn’t matter. That she loved him anyway. If she said those words, would he change his mind and turn back around?