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“I’m disappointed, Rip,” said Haze, walking back to Rip’s place with him. “I thought you were better than this. Everyone else doubted you, but I always thought you were a good guy.”
Rip swallowed away a pang of shame. He thought back to his time in the Marines, to being told that he wasn’t good enough by his old captain, and trying to tell himself that he was. Now, it was the opposite. Haze had believed in him, and he’d let him down. Turned out he was the idiot guy his old captain had told him he was after all.
“What were you thinking?” Haze asked. “Taking Mabel behind that screen and fucking her on set? Were you trying to prove something to her? Did she even consent to it.”
Rip stopped walking, his blood boiling. “Of course she goddamn consented to it!” He took a moment to take a few long, deep breaths. “We have a contract. We were keeping it a secret, testing out our feelings until the movie was finished.” He paused, closing his eyes. “I’m in love with her, Haze.” His eyes snapped open. “Or at least, I thought I was. Until I found out she’s been lying to me.”
Haze looked taken aback. “You’re in love with her. With Mabel? Filthy, angry little Mabel?”
“She’s the most beautiful woman in the world to me,” Rip replied, meaning every word of it.
Haze stayed silent for a moment, then he laid a hand on Rip’s shoulder and patted it. “My friend,” he said, “I had no idea. I didn’t know you were her Daddy. Don’t you think you should be with her right now?”
“I can’t trust her anymore,” he said. “Her lie was too big. She told me…” He felt a sting of shame in his stomach. Shame for being so stupid as to believe her. “She told me she was a virgin.”
“And it was important to you? That she was a virgin?”
“No,” Rip said, shaking his head. “It was important that she was being honest with me.”
Haze shrugged. “Well, maybe she stillisa virgin.”
“She and that man have a child together!”
Haze furrowed his brow. “You don’t know, do you?”
“Know what?” Rip spat.
“Mabel was a surrogate for her sister and her husband. That man, Fabian, is her brother-in-law.”
Rip felt his ears start to whoosh, his vision start to spin. “Mabel was a surrogate?”
“Yes,” said Haze. “I’m surprised you didn’t know. Everyone else here knows about it.”
“Why didn’t I hear about it then?”
Haze shrugged. “Maybe because nobody talks to you. They’re all scared of you, Rip.”
Rip scratched his day-old stubble. Normally, he shaved every day without exception. Normally, his life was in order. And having his life in order was a very lonely business.
“Sorry again, Haze,” said Rip. “I handled things badly. I’ve never fallen for anyone like this before. And now, it looks like it’s over before it even started.”
Haze looked lost in thought. “Yes,” he said absentmindedly. “It’s a real shame. The two of you. I can see it now. Don’t know how I missed it.”
“Goodbye, Haze,” said Rip. “And good luck with everything.” He took a big, deep breath of Texan air. “Liberty’s a special place.”
Suddenly, Rip noticed that Haze had tears in his eyes. “I must be going soft in my old age,” he said, “but if everything you told me today is true, then you should stay.”
Rip smiled sadly, his voice cracking. “Thank you. But I can’t. I have shamed myself publicly here. And, more than that, I have offended people.”
“You can make amends. People have a great capacity for forgiveness.”
“There’s only one person whose forgiveness I crave,” replied Rip. “And I don’t think she’ll ever give it to me.”
CHAPTER 14
Mabel was alone again.
