Dinner Disasters: Sebastian and Layana

Chapter 16 (Sebastian): With A Chaperone

Copyright © 2024 by GroveltoHEA

Having already made my win-back-Layana plan, I found myself revising it after reading the illuminating letters between her grandparents. Layana had remarked several times as I read them to her that it was like reading a romance novel about people you know.

"I can't believe I'm listening to my grandparents save their marriage," she'd mused when I'd stopped to take a drink. "This is a bit unreal."

"But you're also listening to them fall deeper in love," I added because that had been apparent, too, in the letters they'd exchanged, in the words that had changed from tense and angry to considerate and selfless to extremely loving and appreciative.

You could see the changes Michael was going through, you could hear his point of view shift in his letters to Susan after she figuratively nailed him to a wall several times. He was a man so firmly entrenched in his views -- most likely a product of his times -- that it took him a while to figure out that the way he'd treated his wife wasn't right, and that he'd have to change if he wanted Susan to come back to him. 

History had repeated itself two generations later. I may have been from a different generation that was supposedly more evolved than men from her grandfather's generation, but I'd still managed to take my wife for granted and not prioritize her.

Layana hadn't left me as her grandmother had left her grandfather, but my wife had definitely taken a few steps back from me. Although some of that was the trauma from Renee herself, much of it was was due to me not being as present as I'd always been before, not listening to her and fighting to prove I was innocent.

Just like Michael had let helping a widow come between him and his wife, I had let business in the form of Renee become a problem in my marriage. Ironically, trying to get us to the point where Layana didn't have to work had taken precedence over my wife. I was so focused on our business, on making this important deal, that I'd simply stopped taking the time to put my wife first as I chased down that signed contract. The woman I was supposedly doing this for had been neglected and I hadn't listened to her.

No more. Never again.

I could tell myself that, I could know that I would be a much better husband going forward, but I wasn't the one that needed convincing. Layana did. Even though she wasn't blaming me for Renee becoming a stalker, there were a number of other ways I had shaken our trust.

We'd already come up with a plan for how I'd conduct business in the future. Although she'd told me that she'd never given a thought to my business dinners before Renee and we could renegotiate the ban on dinners with women, I still wanted to change that because I didn't want to give Layana even the slightest worry.

After signing the month-to-month lease, Layana and I moved into our temporary home a week later. If you're reading this on a pay per chapter app, it's been stolen. Go to wattpad, search groveltohea and read it there for free. I'd already moved the few pieces of her grandparents' furniture we wanted to take with us to the rental, which made it feel homier. 

Right after the move, Layana and I had both started individual therapy to deal with any lingering effects from the day Renee had died and the time leading up to that day. Layana didn't want to talk about her sessions yet, other than to say they were helping, and said she'd let me know when she was ready to discuss things. 

Since she'd taken a month off of work, I asked Layana to handle those tasks that could be easily tackled with a laptop and from the comfort of home. First up was asking her to order some clothes and other necessities for both of us, to at least get us started. Her mouth tightened at the implications, but she got busy with the online shopping.