He was starting to understand what she was saying, what her worried were. “That's it right? You were worried I’d turn into Fischer didn’t you, ranting and raving and maybe even believing it all? I don’t like the Russians no, but you know how it is, the press wanted a show, they wanted a bad guy so I gave it to them. And it put money in the bank didn’t it, there’s no denying that.” He couldn’t help being amused at how worried she was. They were starting to talk about him? Let them talk, he didn’t need them. Just their money. And everything he’d said about the Soviets was perfectly true. And he’d been as complimentary about Sergievsky as he could. It was enough. But turned out it had cost him Florence. “I hated arguing with you.” he said finally. “But I could never manage to stop myself.”
Freddie shook his head, this was the killer, this was why he was more disappointed in Florence than anything else. Leaving him, getting together with someone else? He might have just hated her and walked away, but a Commie who’d walked out on his wife and kids. His kids? “You know that’s the thing I don’t understand, you told me all the time I was better than my Dad, than the guy who couldn’t hang around to raise his own kid. Did you want that for those kids he left? Did you think about them? I did. After I was done being angry at him for taking you I got angry at him for walking out on those kids, and you for being fool enough to let him. Are you that much of a hypocrite or were you so infatuated with him you didn’t care about the kids?”
She knew she was wrong. That was something at least. And she realised now just how weak he’d been. “You didn’t. You meant nothing more to him than an affair. Maybe a way to win. You don’t think Molokov was in his ear trying to get him to use you against me? Championship after Championship Florence and nothing could touch us, we were the golden couple of Chess, and then he comes along and what, few glasses of wine up a mountain later and you throw it all away on something you had to know could never actually mean anything?” It was harsh but she had to hear it. She needed to realise, needed to grow up and understand that arguments were one thing but they could have talked, could have gotten through it.
“You’d have stayed. If you could change it, you’d have stayed with me. Fought for the relationship we’d spent seven years building? Yeah well...” He wasn’t gonna ask her back. He wasn’t. He had too much pride for that and they both knew it. No if Florence wanted another chance she’d have to work for it. She’d have to prove she wasn’t gonna run off the second someone new turned her head. “If the arguing was too much you should have told me. I’ve seen what arguing can do to people, you know that. You know how I feel about that and I don’t want to turn into h...” He cut off, focusing very very quickly on his coffee. “I tried you know.” he said softly, more softly than he was usually known for. “I tried to make you happy, if you weren’t, you should have told me.”