She said, "I may choose to travel, get away for while. Maybe even stay somewhere else."
What could that cost? Matthew asked himself. Compared to what she might get if they were to proceed with a divorce, setting her up in her own place amounted to a pinch of salt. For now.
"Fine. Whatever you need. Let's see what happens when things settle down in a few months."
"Ha ha, that's what you think. Please, take a good look at yourself. With you it will never settle down, Matthew. You're married to Wallaby, not me. You think you've replaced Peter Jones as some sort of hotshot smart aleck, but now you're as sickly attached to that company as he ever was. You didn't want him out of your way so you could run the business - no, you were after more. You were after his lover. And you got it." She shot him a mean laugh and turned her head in disgust. And began to cry.
If only right now he would come to her and hold her, and tell her everything would be all right, and kiss her, really kiss her, the way he once had, full of need and desire, then she would go back to him, make their marriage work again. Somehow. As happy as Jean-Pierre made her feel, she understood that she had only begun her affair with him because Matthew had rejected her. If he wanted her back, he could have her. But it was now or never.
Matthew turned away. "Fine," he said flatly, then lifted his briefcase and walked out of the house, got in his car, and drove away.
And along with him went all of her hopes of ever realizing the plan for happiness they had made before moving to California. It was really over. She was now in control of her own plan. She was scared, but she was determined. To hell with him. With her share of the money, she could live the rest of her life without a care. She hugged herself tightly inside the sleeves of her robe, and an eerie thought entered her mind. She shivered, and the hairs on her arms stood up. Glancing around the room, at their things, she understood for the very first time that everything she ever associated with Matthew - money, power, luxury - all of a sudden didn't matter anymore. She was angry with herself for thinking she should go back to him. Was she going mad? Had he really made her crazy? How could she in one instant wish to go back to him, and in the next wonder if he had ever really mattered? Had he been an instrument to her, just as she had been to him? It sure looked that way now. She had used him to acquire more and more things, but she no longer needed these tokens of power and prestige. There was only one thing she needed now, the love of her attractive Frenchman. Nothing else mattered anymore.
Feeling free for the first time of the man to whom she had felt so dependent, Greta calmly sat down on the sofa. Yes, it would be worth waiting a little longer while Jean-Pierre created their new world.
After all, she told herself, she had nothing to lose.