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“Sweetheart, you haven’t looked well all evening. Tell me what’s going on. Do you want me to take you home so you can rest?”
Meredith shakes her head no. “I’ve been so quiet all evening because I’ve been working up my courage to ask you something.”
Her hand is trembling, and as much as I want to reach across the table and hold it, I don’t. Hell, if I didn’t fear she was about to dump me, I might pull her into my lap in front of God and everyone and let her spill her guts.
“Ask me anything.”
“Did you used to date your stepmom?”
So that’s what this is about. I should have known better.
Fuck.
“No. Who told you that?”
“No one.”
“Was it Charlie? I knew I should have stuffed him in a locker in high school.”
She again shakes her head no. “Who’s Charlie? Doesn’t matter. Have you seen this?”
“Seen what?”
Meredith hands me her phone, and I finally understand. I take a few minutes to read, then hand the phone back to her.
“First of all, I don’t know what The Drop is, but I have a feeling I know who wrote it. Second, this is a completely twisted and inaccurate version of events.”
She nods, exhaling. “I had a feeling, which is why I wanted to ask you instead of running away.”
“Running away?” I ask, my heart racing.
Meredith lifts one shoulder. “I left my small town in Idaho because of gossip surrounding my family. My dad embezzled money from the town treasury and left the country with his secretary. People in town assumed my mom benefited from his crimes, but we had nothing to show for it. Nothing to give back to the town. So we all scattered. Mom and my sister are in California. My brother moved to New York. And I went to college in Montana. Now, here I am, asking you to give me a reason to not run away from this. Because if whoever is behind these articles is going to dog me with gossip, I can’t have that stress in my life. And I need to leave sooner rather than later for my health and the baby’s sake.”
Everything inside me wants to fight. I want to punch Charlie in the throat for this; I know he’s behind it. And I want to fight for the truth. And, mostly, more than anything, I need to fight for what Meredith and I have.
“Before Mariam met my dad, she and I innocently chatted once on a dating app. Once. We agreed to meet up for coffee at the Corner Cafe. I was an idiot who blew off the date to do something else. And because my dad is who he is, he swooped in the next day to apologize on my behalf. Not that I asked him to. That was the first time he met Mariam. And they were so instantly stupid for each other that she bid on him that very night at the annual cowboy auction. They’ve been inseparable ever since. So, no. I didn’t date or try to date my stepmom. I almost dated a woman who wasn’t meant for me. That’s the real story.”
Meredith stares at me, absorbing all of this information.
She smiles. “That’s quite a different thing than what I read.”
“It’s amazing how five years can twist people’s memories of what happened.”
She laughs. “Of course, I believe you.”
I gesture with my head to the window overlooking the street. “My dad, Mariam, and the kids just went into The Corner Cafe for dinner. I can flag them down to confirm the story. I know you reporters like to have more than one source.”
“Not necessary.”
“As far as the gossip and the lies, I can’t control how stressed out it makes you. But I love you, and I’ll make it my job to take care of you and the baby.”
“Nate, I…”
Just then, the front door of the bar swings open, and of all the people who should be showing his face at the moment, Charlie should not be the person.
Rage explodes in my gut.
He and I are going to have a little chat.
