The Marriage Profile by Metsy Hingle

Mission Creek can be at times,” Angela offered.
    â€œIt’s not all that small of a town. But then I suppose that depends on the person and what they want.”
    Angela knew it was a dig at her because she’d opted to move to the big city of San Antonio instead of remaining in Mission Creek and trying to salvage their marriage. Since Justin had refused to admit five years ago that the real problems at the core of their marriage had little to do with their careers and everything to do with their relationship, she doubted that rehashing her reasons for leaving would serve any purpose. Deciding to let the remark pass, she said, “Well, I’m sorry, anyway, about the confusion and any embarrassment it caused.”
    â€œThe confusion was of my own making. I thought you were Rose,” he explained as he dropped his hat on the corner of the paper-laden desk. “As for embarrassing me, you didn’t.”
    â€œI’m glad. That I didn’t embarrass you, I mean,” she added nervously. “But I suppose I should have made sure Mrs. Cox understood.”
    â€œShe understood, all right. But whether we’d been divorced five years or fifty, it wouldn’t have made a difference to Audrey Lou. As far as she’s concerned, you’re still my wife.”
    â€œI take it she’s not too fond of divorce?”
    He made a dismissive sound. “That’s like asking if water is wet. The woman thinks the only time a marriage ends is when one of the pair dies. As far as she’s concerned, ‘until death do us part’ means just that. And since she’s been married to the same man for over forty years, I guess I can understand why she feels the way she does.”
    â€œI suppose so,” Angela offered, feeling more awkward by the second. “The idea of two people spending their lives together, well, it is a lovely sentiment.”
    â€œI guess that would depend on the two people and whether or not the marriage works out. In our case, it didn’t.”
    While he didn’t say “because of you,” Angela could almost hear the words he’d left unsaid. Uncomfortable, she stared down at her clasped hands a moment. She’d long ago accepted blame for the failure of their marriage. Looking back now, she could see so clearly that their marriage had stood little chance of succeeding. How could it? Even without the added strain caused by Justin’s family’s objections to his choice of her as a wife and her inability to conceive a child, the marriage had mistake written all over it from the start. Someone like her wasn’t meant to be anyone’s wife—especially not the wife of a man like Justin Wainwright. Yet knowing that, she’d been too blinded by her love for him to say no when he’d proposed. And because she’d been selfish, she had married him and had made them both miserable.
    Shoving aside the sad thoughts, Angela lifted her gaze again and found Justin’s eyes on her. And as had so often been the case during their marriage, those cool green eyes of his gave away nothing of what he was thinking. Growing more stressed by the minute, she decided the best thing to do was to get this over with and tell Justin the reason she was there. “Justin, I—”
    â€œListen, Angela, I—”
    He chuckled.
    So did she. And she let out a breath as some of the tension eased. Even though she realized that she was simply delaying the fireworks that her announcement was sure to set off, she said, “Go ahead. You first.”
    â€œI was about to say that considering how our conversation ended last night, I’m surprised to find you here.”
    â€œI realize I should have called you first, instead of just showing up here like this,” she said, feeling defensive. “But to be honest, I wasn’t sure you’d agree to see me. So I decided to just take my chances and come by.”
    A hint of red