22

“Here, honey. I think you could use this.” The waitress set down a glass of iced tea and handed Chloe a napkin. “No man is worth that kind of grief. Believe me.”

“Thank you.” Embarrassed, Chloe wiped her cheeks and then crumpled the paper into a ball.

The woman looked to be in her fifties with graying brown hair and bags of weariness beneath her eyes, yet kindness shone from their faded depths. “Can I call someone for you?”

Chloe’s first thought was of Aidan. But she couldn’t count on him anymore. She shook her head. “I’ll be fine in a few minutes.”

The woman patted her arm. “Take your time, honey. Take your time.”

Chloe forced back fresh tears at the irony of the situation. If Richard had proposed three months ago, she would’ve been the happiest woman in New York City. Now, she wanted him to leave town and never come back. The bitter aftertaste of his kiss lingered. His touch used to heat her blood. Today, it brought nothing but revulsion and shame.

Aidan had come to her defense like an avenging angel, only to fall victim to Richard’s cruel accusations. Accusations she couldn’t deny. The icy glass against her cheek did little to soothe her grief at the look of disgust on Aidan’s face. She muffled a sob as the stark truth slammed through her.

She was in love with Aidan.

And he hated her.

Her cellphone chimed. Hoping it might be Aidan, she checked the display, but it was Maxi. Chloe slumped on the bench seat. How would she ever explain this mess to her friend? “Hi, Maxi.”

“Chloe, is everything all right? Mama said you took off in a hurry—and that Aidan followed you.”

“I’m sorry.” Everything sharp and raw rose in her throat.

“Where are you?”

“At Ruby’s.”

“Stay there. I’m coming over.”

Chloe owed her friend the truth—about Richard, and about her growing feelings for Aidan. She only hoped Maxi wouldn’t despise her after hearing the whole story.

Ten minutes later, Maxi sat down across from her. From the alarmed look on her friend’s face, Chloe must’ve looked a sight. Maxi gripped her hand across the table. “Whatever it is, I’m here for you.”

“I got a text from Richard. He’s here in Rainbow Falls.”

Maxi’s brows plunged down. “What did he want?”

“It’s a long, ugly story. Are you sure you want to know?”

Maxi leaned on the table, her hazel eyes intense. “It’s about time. Tell me everything.”

Other than a few eye rolls and frowns, Maxi let Chloe talk uninterrupted until she finally ran out of words—and tears.

Maxi squeezed her hand. “I’m so sorry you had to go through all that. What a colossal jerk the man is. Thinking he could sail into town after everything and you’d just swoon at his feet.”

“I was so stupid. How did I not see what he was really like?”

“You’re not the first girl to be taken in by a smooth-talking married man. And you won’t be the last.” She pinned her with a sharp look. “You’re not still in love with him, are you?”

Chloe shook her head. “The moment I saw his wife’s pregnant belly, I was done. For good.”

“I get it, believe me.” Maxi’s anger thawed some of the ice that seemed to have encased her.

“But where does Aidan fit in? Did he follow you here?”

Chloe nodded, her lips pressed together.

“And…?”

“And…he despises me.” Chloe clenched her fingers until the nails bit into her palms.

Maxi’s keen eyes searched Chloe’s face. “Do you have feelings for my brother?”

“It doesn’t matter now.”

Maxi’s lips twisted up. “I’ll take that as a yes. Which is a good thing since I’m pretty sure he’s crazy about you too.”

“Not anymore.”

“Listen…I know my brother. Give him some time to cool off, and he’ll come around. He’ll get over this, I know it.”

Maxi’s firm assertion didn’t spark any hope in Chloe’s shriveled heart.

It would hurt too much if she was wrong.

****

Aidan sat in the youth center’s empty gym. Sweat poured off his body, soaking his shirt. Three days after the confrontation in the diner, raw anger still burned like a hot coal. An hour of whaling a basketball at an imaginary enemy had done little to ease his rage and disillusionment. Nothing could change the stark reality of his situation.

He’d fallen in love with an adulteress. How dare she cloak herself in a veil of innocence? Lure him in with her vulnerability, her enthusiasm, and her caring heart. He never would have had anything to do with her if he’d known.

You would shun her like a leper, as though she didn’t deserve to breathe the same air as you.

The words entered his mind with the force of a lance. Hadn’t he been treated like a leper by the staff at the school in Arizona? By Patricia?

In disgust, Aidan stood and heaved the ball against the far wall. It ricocheted and skipped across the gym floor, coming to rest in the corner. His body reverberated with the same violent vibrations. He wanted to take a baseball bat and smash every window, destroy every light fixture, demolish everything—until the roaring agony inside him released its stranglehold. Lucky for him, the center had no bats on site. He blew out a deep breath, trying to rid his body of the rage.

He’d avoided Chloe at school, holed up in his office like a wounded bear. The true torture, however, was coming home at night, seeing her car in the driveway, and knowing she was upstairs in her apartment.

“Hello, Aidan.”

He jerked around, hoping her voice was a figment of his imagination.

She stood inside the main door, hands clasped.

He allowed the pain of her presence to pulse in his veins, before he hardened his muscles like a shield. “I have nothing to say to you.” He bent to pick up the ball and then strode to the equipment room in the corner.

“Well, I have something to say to you.”

Each tap of her shoes across the floor slapped against his nerve endings. He hurled the ball into the cupboard, locked the door, and with no other recourse, turned to face her. “You don’t want to be around me right now. Not in the mood I’m in.”

“You’ve been avoiding me for days. Not returning my calls. I think I deserve the chance to explain myself.”

“I won’t listen to your lies.”

Her eyes flashed. “My lies? You assume that Richard, a total stranger, is telling the truth, and I’m the one who’s lying.”

The accuracy of her statement stung like bitter acid. Suddenly he was back in the principal’s office in Arizona with Emily’s parents spouting falsehoods about him, and the man he looked up to, his boss and mentor, believing them without even hearing his side of the story. Wasn’t he doing the same thing to Chloe? Without answering, he stalked over to his gym bag on the bench, pulled out a towel, and wiped the sweat off his face.

“I didn’t know Richard was married when we started dating.”

He continued to rub his arms with the towel, pretending not to listen.

“My mother had just died. Nick and Lily were busy with their new baby, and I…I felt completely alone. In New York with no friends or family. Then Richard started pursuing me.”

Aidan tossed the damp towel into his bag and pulled out a bottle of water.

“He overwhelmed me with attention, gave me gifts, and sent me love notes. I fell hard for him. For once, I was the most important person in the world to someone.”

Aidan hardened his heart to the catch in her voice, to the sound of tears threatening. He twisted the cap off the bottle and drank.

“When I discovered he had a wife and kids, I—”

He whipped around, anger blazing. “You what? Begged him to leave his family?”

Her lips trembled. A large tear wound its way down, curving by her mouth and dropping from her chin. “I wanted to die.” Her whisper vibrated through the empty gym. “Richard found me with a bottle of pills. He made me swear I wouldn’t do anything foolish. He told me he loved me and to be patient. He wanted to leave his wife, but the timing wasn’t right. He swore he would leave Denise as soon as things settled down. I believed him.”

A sliver of compassion wiggled past his anger. “How long did you wait?”

“Six months. The worst six months of my life. It finally took his wife to make me see the truth.”

His jaw dropped. “You went to his wife?”

“She came to me. She found out about us through someone at the restaurant. One night she waited until I was alone in the kitchen.” Chloe’s body shook. She sank onto the bench beside his bag, as though her legs wouldn’t support her.

He waited for her to continue.

“She grabbed one of the butcher knives from the counter and came at me.”

Horrible images rose in Aidan’s mind. “Where was Richard?” If he’d been any kind of man, he would’ve stopped the affair before irreparable damage was done.

“He got there—a little too late.”

“She stabbed you?”

“She tried. I grabbed her but fell back. My other hand landed against the hot stove.”

What had she said about the burn? Cooks got burned all the time. Yeah, not by someone trying to stab them. “You didn’t deserve that.”

A mixture of sorrow and guilt swirled in her eyes. “Didn’t I? I thought I did.”

“What happened then?”

“She came at me again, but Richard arrived and got the knife away from her. It was then that I noticed Denise was several months pregnant.”

Aidan struggled to comprehend. “You mean…”

She gave a bitter laugh. “That’s right. The whole time he was supposed to be leaving her, he’d gotten her pregnant instead.” She stood and wrapped her arms around her torso. “Something died in me that night.”

“Did you press charges?”

“No. I couldn’t deprive the children of their mother. I told Richard to take her home and never speak to me again. The next day, my boss fired me.”

The anger whooshed out of him like a balloon losing air. “What a mess.”

Chloe pulled out a tissue. She wiped her nose and lifted her chin, a bit of spirit returning to her demeanor. “Just so you know, I sent Richard home.”

Despite everything, a flare of jealousy shot through him. “You went to his hotel room?”

Annoyance flashed. “Of course not. I spoke to him on the phone.”

“How do you know he’s gone?”

“Nick made sure he left.”

“Nick knew about this?”

“Not all of it.” A wry smile twisted her lips. “Even though he’s a minister, he does have a temper. I was afraid he’d put Richard in the hospital.”

Aidan’s jaw tightened. “I know the feeling.”

She pulled the strap of her purse over her shoulder. “I wanted you to understand the reasons behind what I did. I’m not proud of that chapter of my life, but I’m doing everything I can to start over.”

A fresh start. Isn’t that why he came back to Rainbow Falls? To escape the dark shadows of his past? He zipped up his gym bag and straightened. “The only way you’ll be able to do that, Chloe, is to ask for God’s forgiveness and make amends for any harm you’ve caused.”

She went very still. “And what about your forgiveness, Aidan? How do I earn that?”

He shook his head sadly, defeat creeping through his system. “I’m sorry. I don’t know if that’s even possible.”