“You should be,” she argued. “Hannah took advantage of your friendship. She used you, cheated on you, and then cast you aside when you were no longer convenient. Let me guess, you never once cheated on her. I bet you honored your marriage vows even though they were fake.”
My heart rate had picked up steadily as she spoke. Now it felt like I was halfway through a ten-mile run. Why was Candace saying these things? I didn’t tell her the truth to bash Hannah or to gain sympathy for myself.
Of course, I’d kept my vows. Even when Hannah had blindsided me with a divorce, I didn’t go out looking for a way to get back at her. Maybe we hadn’t married for the right reasons, but I never saw it as a free-for-all. Marriage wasn’t about keeping score or keeping things even. It wasn’t every man for himself. At least, not for me.
“It wasn’t like that, Candace. Besides, it’s over now anyway.”
“It’s not over. You’re still in this town, and everyone thinks it’s your choice to not be in your daughter’s life. When the truth is that Hannah took her away from you.”
I was already shaking my head, frustration forcing the words through gritted teeth. “She’s not my daughter. I have no claim on that little girl. No rights.”
But Candace ignored me, eyes blazing with anger on my behalf. “Does her new husband think you’re some deadbeat dad? Please tell me her parents know the truth. That she’s not perpetuating this lie from three hundred miles away?”
Her words had my throat going tight, and I couldn’t answer. But by the way her face fell, I knew she’d figured it out.
Anger and shame swirled together in an irrational vortex. I dropped her hand. My voice was gruffer than I intended when I demanded, “I don’t want to do this. I didn’t tell you the truth so you could throw it in my face. I told you because I couldn’t stand the thought of lying to you. Of being with you and you not knowing me.”
After a few moments, Candace took a deep breath and pressed her knee gently against mine. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have reacted that way. You’re right. You were telling me something sensitive and private, and I made it about me. I’m so sorry, Mark.” I heard her swallow. “We can drop it. Talk about something else. Or I can go, if that would be better.”
Now that my own breathing had evened out, I could think again. Did I want Candace to go? Was this how I wanted our first date—or whatever it was—to end?
I tapped her knee with mine and met her worried gaze. “You don’t need to go. I was thinking about having a fire outside. Maybe we can sit out there and talk?”
A tentative smile touched the corners of her full lips. “I’d like that. And if you want to tell me more about Lyndsey, I’d love to hear about her.”
A welcome ache flared to life in the center of my chest. I hardly let myselfthinkabout the little girl I’d lost. I definitely never talked about her. There wasn’t anyone Icouldtalk to. Hannah had cut off contact over two years ago, following our divorce. And to her parents, I was public enemy number one. The Prices hadstopped being my family when I let their daughter leave the state and marry someone else. As if I had a choice. I wasn’t going to stop Hannah from living her life. Our friendship had grown twisted and tainted by then, but I still wanted her to be happy. I wanted that for her daughter as well.
The offer to open up and talk about Lyndsey felt like a gift.
“Yeah,” I finally replied. “That would be nice.”
Candace
My first date with Mark Mercer wasnotgoing how I’d expected.
I never could have anticipated sitting around the fire pit in his gorgeous backyard while the quiet man told me about his marriage of convenience to his childhood best friend. I didn’t even think those were real outside of historical romance novels. But here the modern example sat, clearly suffering from the trauma of the experience, from the unbelievable selfishness of his ex-wife and former best friend.
I’d listened to Mark reveal the truth of his marriage with shaking hands and so much unspent rage that I could hardly think straight. If I’d been thinking, I probably wouldn’t have blurted out all that stuff about Hannah, but it had been hard to resist.
But seriously, fuck Hannah Price. I couldn’t believe she’d put Mark through so much. He’d given up his education and his future to save her from her terrible family. He’d assumed the care of a newborn and obviously fallen in love with that baby, because hearing him talk about Lyndsey now was heartbreaking. Hannah had asked all of this of Mark, and then left him holding the bag when a better option came along.
She clearly only worried about her own relationship with her parents while she ignored the fact they were Mark’s only family too. It was unforgivable that Hannah left for Tennessee, content to let everyone think that Mark didn’t love or care for his child. I’d seen the gossip firsthand, what the Prices had let perpetuatein their daughter’s absence. It was cruel and unfair after all Mark had done to protect Hannah.
But from Mark’s reaction earlier, acknowledging Hannah’s terrible behavior wasn’t welcome. He was too loyal for his own good. Mark was still protecting the shy girl he’d befriended in middle school even though she was a grown-ass woman who needed to own up to what she’d done.
Beneath my simmering anger, however, was the realization that Mark Mercer was, probably, the best man I’d ever met. He’d kept Hannah’s secret to his own detriment. He had sacrificed his own happiness for that of a friend. His loyalty and integrity were unmatched.
I’d known he was a good person from the beginning. His quiet, gentle nature had immediately put me at ease. And now, in knowing the truth about his relationship with Hannah, I’d learned just how selfless and big-hearted he was. As a result, my own heart ached at all that Mark had endured.
“Was she a good baby?” I asked gently.
Mark took a sip from his beer and tucked the plaid fleece blanket more tightly around my feet.
Following his tense confession in the living room, Mark had led me back outside. He’d built a roaring fire, scooted my chair close, draped the cozy fabric across my legs, and pulled my feet into his lap. The night air was chilly, but there wasn’t any chance I’d get cold. Mark would never allow that.
He smiled as he gazed at the flames, distant, as if calling up a memory he’d hidden away, uncovering the cobwebs and bringing it out into the light. “No, not at all.” His quiet laugh pierced a hole in my heart, and I felt my nose sting all of a sudden. “She spit up all the time. Like a little geyser. Hannah had trouble breastfeeding, so we gave Lyndsey formula. For a while, we tried different ones, in case she had sensitivities, and then different types of bottles. But she never seemed to have stomach pain or anything like that, she just spit up a lot. There was one day where I had no clean tee shirts left, and then she threw up on my bare chest and I just gave up trying to smell like anything other than spoiled milk.”
I smiled as I watched the firelight dance across his face.
