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Alice is dumping dressing onto her salad while my mom sets the table and pours another glass of lemonade for her friend.
“Well”—she leans closer to my mom, like she’s about to spill something juicy—“Beth Hargrove called Edward, asking him to recommend a good divorce attorney.”
Edward is Alice’s husband. He’s an attorney.
“Who’s Beth Hargrove?” Mom asks. She grabs a few napkins and her food.
“Beth Hargrove, my friend from college. She lives in the city now and is married to an orthopedic surgeon. Her husband is in the same surgical group as Ron Cooper.”
I pause in the doorway, leaning against the frame, curious to hear the rest. Alice sits across from my mom, the food forgotten as she continues to tell her story.
“So, Beth is friends with Ron Cooper’s wife, Ellen. And Ellen is the one who needs the divorce attorney.” She pauses to take a quick drink of lemonade before continuing, “According to Beth, Ellen recently found out that her husband has been having an affair with someone at the office.”
I freeze.
My mom stops chewing, and a frown appears. “Sounds familiar.” She glances over at me and back at her plate.
“Apparently, this has been going on for quite some time.” Alice keeps talking. “Her husband is gone all the time, so he has plenty of opportunities to cheat. And Beth says Ron has this cute little assistant he’s always with.”
“I feel bad for her,” Mom murmurs.
“Who? The assistant?”
Mom shakes her head. “No. The wife.”
My mind is spinning as they continue to dissect the situation.“… cute little assistant …”After another minute, I walk over and absentmindedly kiss my mom’s head and say goodbye to the two women. I’ve heard enough. I walk out the front door and climb into the 4Runner. I drive home and walk into my quiet house.
I stop in my office and power up the computer, sitting down in front of the screen. I perform a quick search once it’s connected to the internet. A moment later, I’m scrolling through the pictures of the doctors and PAs working at Orthopedic Specialists. Willow mentioned the name of her group in passing once or twice. I pause on Ron Cooper’s picture, reading his bio. And then I keep going. I land on Willow’s profile. I stare at the features of her beautiful, smiling face for a few minutes before scanning the information in the succinct paragraph next to her photograph. My eyes pause on her information. There, in black and white, she is listed as Dr. Cooper’s physician assistant.
“… her husband has been having an affair with someone at the office.”
“Ron has this cute little assistant he’s always with.”
I slump back in my chair and gaze at the mountains in the distance. Images from the past couple of weeks play through my head. All of them include Willow. The first night I saw her at Cowboy’s. The unexpected tears and emotions on the walk home. Our first kiss. The falls. The cookout and skipping rocks. Deernan’s. The first time I stayed at her cabin. All the nights following it. Camping out together.
And this entire time, she’s had a thing going with her married boss.
She never said a word about it. About him and her.
My jaw clenches when I picture them together. I lift my phone from my pocket when it vibrates. It’s Wyatt, suggesting Cowboy’s tonight. I type out a response, agreeing. I could use a drink. He asks if I’ve talked to Willow. When I answer no, he says he’ll invite her.
I haven’t talked to Willow much in the past two days. Not since I dropped her off at home after camping. I needed somespace, so I took it. Some time to figure out what I was feeling for her. I couldn’t do that while I was with her. Because every time we were together, I forgot all the reasons that I love my independence.
I never considered that everything between us was a lie. That I was used. I was a brief respite from her life and the affair she’s entangled in back in the city. Someone to pass the time with for a few days on vacation. I feel foolish, being kept in the dark like this. Like I never knew her at all.
Maybe this is a sign.
I leave the office and grab a beer from the fridge, practically shotgunning it. I finish one and have a second. And then a third. I keep drinking.
I’m half lit by the time Wyatt picks me up for the bar. The alcohol fuels the anger simmering inside of me like throwing kerosene on a fire.
And I brace myself for the moment I see Willow, unsure of how I will react.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
WILLOW
PRESENT DAY
