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My heart twisted. I knew what their family had been through, and I hated it for all of them. “I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, me too,” he said softly. He cleared his throat. “It’s better than it used to be. But my therapist told me I’d probably occasionally have trouble sleeping for the rest of my life.”

“Therapy isn’t easy,” I said quickly. I wasn’t thinking when I reached over and curled my hand over his where it rested on the table. “You are really strong. It takes more courage to do something like therapy than it does to just be tough.”

He cleared his throat. “I know. So that’s why I don’t sleep sometimes. It just gets worse if I lie in bed, which I think maybe you understand.” He turned his palm over, curling it around mine now, his thumb brushing idly along the side of my wrist.

“I do.”

“So, your turn.” His words were soft, and I knew he wouldn’t press further.

Swallowing, I steeled myself. “So that person who keeps texting me is my former best friend.” I cleared my throat. “She, uh, um… I’ll summarize,” I said, almost to myself. “I had a boyfriend for a long time. We were serious, or I thought we were. And, uh, I got pregnant, but I didn’t want to have a baby unless we were going to make it official. He kept making excuses why we couldn’t get married yet” I blinked quickly, another breath slipping out. “Anyway, I ended up having some complications and the baby—” I cleared my throat again. “—was, um, stillborn at six months.”

“Oh, Chloe, I am so sorry,” Lincoln said.

I nodded, forging ahead because if I stopped, I would trip and fall emotionally and maybe not recover enough to even speak. “Um, my best friend was also expecting. She got pregnant right around the same time I did. What I didn’t know was that she’d been having a relationship with my boyfriend. She was married, but she was with my ex the whole time I was.”

Shock registered in his gaze for a moment before his eyes darkened. He lifted his other hand, curling both of them around mine. “You didn’t deserve that. You know that, right?”

I lifted a shoulder. “Nobody does, I guess, but it’s what happened. So it was my ex’s baby, but I thought it was her husband’s baby. Their affair started before she even got married.” My mind spun back to her wedding. “I don’t know why she got married.”

“She’s a shitty fucking friend,” Lincoln said flatly.

“Agreed.”

“Should I go somewhere for you? I will. I’ll bring all my brothers. We will make their life a living hell.”

“No, please don’t. I’m okay.” My words rushed out.

“You are okay.” His tone was somber and clear.

“Yeah. It was just the ultimate betrayal, and I lost all the love I had to give, all at once.” I tried to scramble for something to hold onto inside. Whenever I thought about it, I felt like there was no ground under my feet and I couldn’t get my balance. It hurt. So, so much.

Lincoln was still holding my hand and his touch was so comforting. I never wanted him to let go.

“I guess now things aren’t so great anymore between them. I assume what kept him interested was the thrill of the secret affair, Everything blew up, she filed for divorce, all the things. Now she misses me and she’s sorry.”

Lincoln’s breath was sharp when he let it out. “She lost a really good friend.”

I blinked, still trying not to cry. “You think?”

“I know, Chloe. You don’t doubt that, do you?”

“Well, I don’t know, Lincoln,” I said, my voice frayed. “Look what happened.”

He tipped his head to the side. “Chloe, you are the best kind of friend.”

So many doubts had percolated in my thoughts ever since this all blew up. That was the thing nobody talked about when the betrayer is a friend, how you wondered if maybe you had done something to deserve it.

“You are loyal, reliable, sweet and kind. You would help anyone who needed your help. I have no doubt about it.” Lincoln’s words were low.

I took a slow breath. Miraculously, maybe because he was holding onto my hand, I wasn’t spinning out over this pain. “Thanks. I try.”

“Did you block her number after the last time she texted you?”

“Oh, I’ve blocked so many numbers, Lincoln. She gets new ones. I think she sets up those online numbers. I don’t know. I haven’t blocked the last one, not since you texted her back. I thought it might be easier if I was able to recognize the text was from her so I could at least ignore the it.”

“Fuck her. You want me to send another text?” He released one of my hands, stretching his palm out and gesturing for me to hand him my phone.