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He swallowed hard as realization sank in. She’d purposely moved there to be closer to him. For what exactly? “Why… What… You never reached out.” He felt woozy, and it had nothing to do with the shot or the punch. At least not the physical one from Brad.
“I met Brad right after, and he’s been in my life—in Eddie’s life ever since.” She shook her head. “It may have been wrong, but it was just one night…” Her voice trailed.
She was saying he had a son? That Eddie was his? The room swayed all around him as he tried to understand. She’d been there for months. Allowed him to get to know Eddie… He swallowed hard, and his heart echoed in his chest. “Does Eddie know?”
“No!” She shook her head. “And I want to keep it that way. For now.” She ran a hand through her hair, looking almost as conflicted as he felt. Conflicted, guilty, remorseful… A long, awkward tension filled the silence between them.
“Please say something,” she whispered.
What the hell did she expect him to say? He was still in complete shock. His entire life had been upended in a matter of days. Over and over again. He had a kid. A fifteen-year-old son. One he’d known nothing about. One he may never have known about…
“I…uh…”
The sound of heels on the bar floor made them both turn.
Who the hell was there now?
His eyes widened as he saw Whitney enter. Then things moved as if in slow motion as she took in the scene in front of her. One she was completely misreading if the hurt and confusion in her expression were any indication.
Shit.
But no. He wasn’t doing anything wrong. He’d been in the bar thinking about her, missing her, mending a crack in his heart that kept reopening with every memory that surfaced. And just moments ago, his world had once again been knocked off its axis.
But he could see how she might misread things right now. Him and Angel in the bar alone together and the other woman tending to his busted eye.
He stood up so quickly, he knocked the stool over. “Whitney?”
“Sorry…” she mumbled.
“What are you doing here?” Had she come to talk? To tell him she’d reconsidered? His heart raced as he walked toward her, a brief moment of optimism, before she shut it down.
“I just came to make sure you were okay…” Her gaze drifted toward Angel, then returned to his. “But it looks like you’ve got things covered,” she said before turning and walking out of the bar.
“Whitney!” he called after her, but she was gone.
…
The weather had quickly taken a turn for the worse as Whitney jumped back into her vehicle and drove away from the tavern. A sob nearly strangled her, and she swallowed it down.
What had she expected? Certainly not the sight of Angel and Trent together, alone in the bar, that she knew would burn in her mind for a long time. All this time she’d told herself that there was nothing between Trent and his coworker. She’d ignored any gut instincts she felt about that situation and continued to believe in the love and commitment they’d had.
But she hadn’t been completely truthful, either, so maybe neither was Trent.
She wasn’t even sure why she’d gone to the bar anyway. She’d left the office in a haze, and the vehicle had seemed to have a mind of its own, heading toward the bar…toward Trent. She missed him, and she’d just wanted to see him…
Then, noticing the broken door, she’d been worried.
She flicked on the wipers faster as the rain got worse. A rumble of thunder echoed in the distance before a flash of lightning lit up the dark, stormy sky. Her hands shook on the wheel as the eeriness of the memory of the night of her accident caused goosebumps to surface on her skin.
Sarah and Jess had been reaching out to her that day, offering support and letting her know they were there for her if and when she needed them. She knew she would. Eventually. And while she’d been a terrible, distant friend lately, she knew they would be there for her without question. But right now, she just wanted her mom.
It might be a horrible idea. But she was desperate for comfort, for her mother to hug her and lie to her and tell her things would be okay, like when she’d suffered her first broken heart years before.
Funny, at age fifteen, she hadn’t thought pain could cut any deeper, that her shattered teenage heart would never recover.
She’d had no idea the pain life could bring.
Pulling into the parking lot of Rejuvenation just as the darkest night closed in around her, she got out of the car and jogged through the puddles of rain and mud toward the door. Her swollen ankles were throbbing, and her struggle to focus and to act like nothing was wrong was giving her a migraine.
