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Sick. I felt sick even seeing a glimpse of another woman in his arms.
I shoved the phone in his face. “You want to talk about decency? Let’s talk about your supposed business trip. Looks a lot more like pleasure to me!”
His eyes widened before he grabbed my phone and began swiping through the pictures at a furious pace. With each swipe his face turned a deeper shade of red.
“How. Could. You?” Tears poured down my cheeks. “I loved you. I believed in you even though you had been working longer hours and putting me off more and more. Mine wasn’t the only phone that didn’t seem to work anymore. At least I didn’t give you the pathetic excuse that I was busy.”
That lit a fire in him. He threw Dolly’s apple, making me jump as it splattered against the wall. “Who in the hell took these pictures?”
“Why does it matter?”
He gave me a look that said it was a matter of life and death.
“A private investigator,” came spilling out of my mouth before I could stop myself.
“Did you hire the PI?” he spit out.
“No. I trusted you.”
“If that were true, Shelby, we wouldn’t be here right now.”
“Why, because I wouldn’t know the truth? Wouldn’t know that you took that hussy to our place?”
Ryder’s jaw tightened before he held up my phone. “Think about that Shelby, and look at these damn pictures again.”
I closed my eyes. I couldn’t stomach it.
“Look!” Ryder yelled.
My eyes flew open but landed on him. “I’ve had my fill of them.”
He lowered the phone, seething. “Maybe Bobby Jay was right; you did me a favor leaving like you did. I was wrong today to think maybe you had changed, that you no longer let your momma and daddy rule your world, but they’re still calling all the shots. I loved you, Shelby.” His eyes welled with tears. “This last year has about killed me, but I would never want a wife who wouldn’t have at least given me the chance to explain. Who wouldn’t have given some thought before she up and left and wrecked my world. Did I mean so little to you?”
His words and tears pierced not only my heart but made me begin to question all I knew. “You meant everything to me,” I whispered.
He shoved my phone in my hand. “No darlin’, like I said, we wouldn’t be here if that were true. Goodbye, Shelby.” He turned and strode off.
“Wait,” I begged.
He stopped but didn’t turn around.
“Who was that woman?”
His shoulders dropped. “I don’t know her anymore.” His boots echoed heavily against the concrete floor making me feel hollow and more alone than I had ever felt.
I stared down at my phone—at Ryder and the woman tangled up with one another at our beach, Rosemary Beach. Her long, dark hair was draped around them. Her leg wrapped around his just like . . . Oh . . . I looked closer. I noticed the red flag in the distance that warned beach goers not to enter the water. It was the same flag that was up the last time we visited. We found other things to do that day on the beach, much like the . . . or maybe exactly like the couple in the picture. I tilted my head, my heart beating out of control. My hair was eerily similar to the woman’s in the photo, except for the color. Our hair curled the exact way in the sea air.
No. No. No. I would never wear a neon green cover up. I swiped to the next picture, trying to tell myself I hadn’t misjudged or been swindled. That I hadn’t thrown away the best thing that had ever happened to me.
The next photo was of Ryder and that woman eating at our favorite restaurant by the beach, Cowgirl Kitchen. They sat at the same table with the red umbrella just like we had. She was feeding him with her own fork, just like I loved to do. But she was wearing something I didn’t own. And that tacky floral hat she was wearing was atrocious. Her face was hidden, but her hair. . . Her hair?
I leaned against the stall door. Dolly nudged me with her cold nose.
“Oh, Dolly, I think I made a horrible mistake.”
~*~
“These are really well done. It would be hard to tell they had been photoshopped unless you knew what you were looking for.” Jenna was trying to make me feel better while I lay in Emma’s lap. Emma stroked my hair while Aspen sat on the floor near me trying to feed me dark chocolate, to no avail. I thought I might vomit. When I refused them, she shoved them in her own mouth.
“The one on the beach is most obvious. Every aspect is too in focus. Multiple pictures were used to produce this.” She set down my phone on Emma’s coffee table. “I’m sorry, Shelby.”
