Page 40 of Promise

“Right,” he teases, wiggling one brow higher than the other.

“I might not have been the best husband, but I’ve been one-hundred percent faithful.” I snap my attention back to Tate. “I’m practically a virgin again.”

Tate stares at me, disbelief in his eyes.

“Despite what it might look like . . .” I pause, glancing from Petty to Marshall to Hutch before falling to Tate. “I love my wife.”

“Ex wife.” Tate scoffs.

Marshall hangs his head. Hutch shakes his.

“Not ex-wife.” I whip my left hand upright, flipping it like I did the other night. The silicone ring dark and prominent.

Tate is not the smartest one in the group, and he clearly wasn’t paying attention when the other guys put things together.

Trinity and I are still married.

“Fuck,” Tate growls, as if finally realizing the truth.

I drop my hand and stand taller, thinking of Mirabelle. “And one thing I would never have done is leave my kid behind.”

These guys know this. For all the ways I’ve been left behind, I’d never do that to a child. Never.

“Only your wife,” Tate counters, spit forming in the corners of his mouth.

I deserve that. I’ve done Trinity wrong. I’ve done wrong by both of us, but Tate also isn’t perfect. His faults are many, and he shouldn’t be casting stones. I realize he might have had to draw a line, his sister or me, but he’s also a guy. He’s human. And we all fucking make mistakes.

“Man,” I mock him. “You don’t know anything.”

How I asked her to come with me, and how she refused. How broken we both were by the last miscarriage. I almost lost her forever. I was desperate to make a fresh start for us, somewhere away from all the reminders. The empty bedrooms and the packed-up baby clothes.

But I also needed to prove something to myself. I thought I needed to reinvent myself.

“Well, whoever that guy is . . . the baby daddy . . . he’s a dick.” I glance at each of them as if they know who he is, or where he is. Another slice of information no one is willing to share with me.

I’ll kill the guy for leaving Trinity and Mirabelle behind, and I realize that makes me the pot calling the kettle black.

At least, I’m wearing my shame, owning up to it. I made a fucking mistake.

“Hasn’t she told you anything?” Marshall asks, additional questions etched in the creases near his eyes.

Again, I sense they all know something I don’t. And that sensation of things not adding up comes back to me. It just didn’t seem like Trin to suddenly run out and hook up with a handful of men.

As for my friends, I could argue that I thought we were tight, told each other everything. But our friendship has a red flag, and it is Trinity.

Glancing over Tate’s shoulder at Hutch, I beg. “Tell me what I’m missing.”

He purses his lips and shakes his head. “That’s between you and her.”

I meet Marshall’s eyes next, imploring him.

He tips his head back and lowers his shoulders. “Look, I don’t want to be a dick, but we have a game to play.” He looks back at me. “You in, or you out?”

He nods toward the field where the other team has been warming up, but several of them are watching our party of five. The tension is still heightened between us.

I glare back at Tate. “I’m in. One-hundred and ten percent.”

As our gazes lock on one another, Hutch asks a deeper question. “For the long haul or only the season?”