“How many were there?”
A dumbfounded look washed across his face. “How many what?”
“How many women?”
He snapped his mouth shut. “I can explain.”
“No, you can’t. There is no possible way to talk yourself out of this. I saw the photos. The videos. You made a complete idiot of me. You weren’t even careful about it.”
Christopher leaned forward in his chair and reached across the table to take her hand. “Evelyn. I love you. I never meant to hurt you.”
She blinked back fresh tears. “How many were there, Christopher?”
He looked away. “I’m ashamed of myself. I’ve got a problem. A legitimate problem, but you can’t leave me now. I need you at my side if I’m going to recover from everything.”
She swallowed.
“I planned to call about this, but now that you’re here . . . My lawyer said I should ask you to come to my hearing. It’s tomorrow morning. Please. It’s going to be a long road, and we have to show a unified front. Having you there would send a huge statement to the judge.”
She swiped at a runaway tear, angry with herself for letting it fall.
“Don’t cry, babe. You know we’re going to get through this.”
She leveled her gaze. “Christopher, I know you cheated on me, but did you steal that money?”
He stared back at her, a slight, condescending smirk playing at the corners of his mouth. “How can you even ask me that?”
“The evidence is pretty strong. The FBI has questioned me twice now. They’ve shown me things—some I don’t understand, but they think you’re hiding money. They think you took it from the state and you’ve got it somewhere in some secret account. And they think I know where it is.”
He didn’t look away, but a calculated look came over his face and Evelyn knew.
He closed his eyes, lifted his jaw, and opened his mouth to spew a lie that she would’ve believed only two weeks before.
Closed eyes. Lifted jaw. Lie told.
That was his tell. And in retrospect, she realized he’d used it countless times. The knowledge sickened her.
“I’m innocent, babe. I promise. You’ll see. Just don’t give up on me yet.”
“How am I supposed to forgive you for all those women?”
He squeezed her hand. “They meant nothing to me. You are the only thing that matters. This is our year, remember? Our year to finally become a family. Don’t forget everything we’re working for.”
It chilled her to realize how easy it was for Christopher to lie to her. He hadn’t even apologized for what he’d put her through. Did he have any idea how upside-down her world was right now?
Still, she’d been raised to believe that marriage was sacred. It wasn’t something you just threw away. Didn’t she owe it to him—to herself—to at least try to make it work?
Her mother’s words rushed back at her. “It’s a wife’s duty to support her husband—no matter what.” How disappointed they would be if their daughter ended up divorced and penniless. What a mess she’d made of things.
“I think we’re going to have to see a counselor,” she said, pulling her hands into her lap.
He stiffened. “You can’t be serious.”
“How else are we ever going to recover? Are you even sorry?”
“I can be sorry without spewing my feelings to some moron sitting behind a desk,” he said. “You know that’s not an option for us. I’m a public figure. Besides, I don’t need help, Evelyn. I just need you.”
She leveled her gaze. “You had me all these years, and it’s pretty clear I wasn’t all you needed.”
His eyebrow rose ever so slightly. Had she dared to challenge him? “I’m not going to counseling. And neither are you.”
She paused. “It started again,” she said, not wanting to see if there was an ounce of concern on his face. He knew about her panic attacks. Her anxiety disorder. He knew she’d battled them since she was twelve, the last time her whole world fell apart.
“Shut it down, Evelyn,” he said, his voice stern. “There are eyes all over you right now.”
“Whose fault is that?” She raised her chin and focused squarely on him. For years she’d sat there like a clod, believing every lie he told, or not wanting to admit the truth about the man she’d married—or that she might be partially responsible for the state of their marriage. She’d been pretending. Doing what was expected out of some misplaced sense of duty. And for what?
“What did you say to me?” Christopher shifted in his seat.
“I came here for the truth, and I see it now.” Tears rose up again, and it embarrassed her to realize that a part of her had actually been hoping he would give her a reason to work to save their marriage.
Instead, he’d made it clear he had no intention of working for anything.
“What is it you think you see?” His expression turned irritated.
“I see the real you,” she said. “You broke my heart. And you don’t even care.”
He scoffed. “You’re so dramatic. You know how important it is that you keep it together right now.”
She met his eyes. “Can you promise me you’re done with the other women?”
Closed eyes. Lifted jaw. “Of course, Evelyn. There’s only you.”
Lie told.
She stared at her folded hands in her lap. She had her answer.
And somehow, she wished she could plunge back into the depths of oblivion.
“So you’ll come tomorrow?” Christopher’s tone had changed again. He thought he’d gotten what he wanted. Thought he’d convinced her he could be faithful. As if a single lie was all it took. How many of those had she fallen for?
He took a strand of her blonde hair and tucked it behind her ear, then leaned toward her and kissed her cheek. “And wear that gray pantsuit I bought you.” He gave her a once-over. “You look like you’ve forgotten who you are.” She’d chosen dark jeans and a simple blouse for her meeting with Christopher. She thought it was presentable, but he always had something to say about her appearance.
She said nothing.
“Now go wait outside. I’ve got to talk to Whit.”
Evelyn inhaled deeply, her anger bubbling under the surface. She hadn’t felt this kind of hate for over twenty years. Not since she was twelve. The day she realized the world wasn’t full of rainbows and unicorns.
She took the elevator down to the waiting area, where she promptly melted into a puddle of stored-up tears.
Life as she knew it was over and she had no idea what to do about it.
CHAPTER
13
TREVOR HATED THAT he couldn’t hear what Chris was saying to Evelyn. The expression on her face gave nothing away. She’d become harder to read the older she’d gotten, but maybe that was because he didn’t know her anymore.
After she left the apartment, Trevor stood and stared at Chris, who hardly looked like an acquaintance, let alone an old friend.
What would he do if Trevor clocked him square in the nose?
“Kind of you to bring Evelyn all the way here to see me,” Chris said, sitting back down. “A heads-up would’ve been nice.”
Trevor sat across from him, where Evelyn had been sitting only moments before. He could still smell the faint scent of her, like clean linen.
“Just trying to be a good friend.”
“Thanks, buddy.”
“Not to you. To her.” Trevor clenched his teeth tightly.
“Oh, I get what you’re trying to be to Evelyn.” Chris sneered at him. “Quite the opportunity you have here.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Chris. I’ve known you both too many years not to be involved in this, and you know it. Besides, you’re the one who asked me to keep an eye on her.”
“Took that advice to heart, did you?” He glared at Trevor across the table.
“You left her out there alone—do you know what this is doing to her?”
“Her? What about what this
is doing to me?” Chris pushed himself away from the table. “Look at me, man.”
“You made your bed,” Trevor said.
Chris ran a hand over his chin with an irritated huff. “You were always such a Boy Scout.”
“That’s me, Chris.” Trevor wouldn’t apologize for believing Chris should reap what he’d sown.
Chris shifted, then leaned toward Trevor. “You know they’re after Evelyn. They think she knows where I hid the money.”
“You’re okay with that?”
Chris shrugged.
Trevor inhaled the stale apartment air. “What makes you think you’re going to get away with any of this?”
“I’m innocent, man.” But the smug look on his face said otherwise.
Trevor rubbed his temples and let out a sigh.
“I know you’re in love with my wife.”
He looked at Chris, whose eyes seemed to drill a hole right through him.
“Can’t believe you’ve still got a thing for her after all this time.”
Trevor knotted his fists under the table, willing away the desire to reach over and wring Chris’s neck.
“You gotta admit, I chose right.” Chris leaned toward him as if daring him to lose his composure. “I mean, she is some kind of prize.”
Trevor pushed away from the table and swore.
“Nothing pushes your buttons like Evelyn.” Chris laughed. “It’s been fun watching you squirm. It’s like we’re right back in high school and all you ever were to her was a really good friend.” He punctuated the last three words with a sharp staccato tone. “Wonder how she’d feel knowing you knew about me all along and didn’t say a word?”
Trevor’s gut twisted. Chris had nicked an old wound—one that Trevor wasn’t willing to attend to. He had known about Chris’s unfaithfulness, but worse, he’d helped keep his friend’s dirty little secrets.
Chris met his gaze. “I’m not going to lose her over this, Whit. Got that?”
“Maybe you should’ve thought of that before you slept with half the women in Denver,” Trevor spat at him. “What is wrong with you?”
“Someone like you could never understand.” Chris leaned back in his chair. “These women, they just throw themselves at you. It’s impossible to say no.”
“I don’t know how you can stand to look at yourself, Chris. You’re worse than I thought.”
“And a whole lot richer too.” Chris smiled.
The man had no remorse. No concern for anyone else. He was completely self-absorbed, and the only things that mattered to him were money and power.
“Try not to get too close to my wife, okay?”
“Let her go, Chris. She doesn’t deserve this.”
“Not a chance.” Chris’s smirk was enough to make Trevor’s blood boil. “I know Evelyn. She loves to save me, to make me a better man. It won’t take much to convince her she’s the only hope I have at rehabilitation.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because I don’t want you to get any ideas. Evelyn belongs to me. You remember that.”
Trevor had heard enough. He headed out the door without another word, wishing he’d never agreed to come with Evelyn in the first place. Chris was right. Evelyn was his wife, whether Trevor liked it or not, and this whole visit had reminded him of why he’d removed himself from that world in the first place.
He wanted to do the right thing, but from now on, if Evelyn needed anything other than a landlord, she was going to have to talk to someone else. He had to move on with his life or be completely consumed by this situation.
On the other side of the door, he pulled out his phone and found Maggie’s number in his contacts.
Dinner tonight? he texted.
Definitely.
Meet me at Barb’s at 7?
I’ll be there.
Great. It was past time to move on with his life and remove himself from Evelyn’s for good.
CHAPTER
14
THE RIDE BACK TO LOVES PARK was tension-filled and full of silence. Whatever Christopher had said to Whit must have gotten under his skin, but he wasn’t talking. Big surprise.
The two men had always had a complicated relationship, one she’d never really understood. Evelyn wondered why Trevor was friends with Christopher at all.
“I don’t even know what to think anymore,” Evelyn said, breaking the silence. “He’s not anything like who I thought he was.”
Trevor drew in a breath. “Maybe he’s just lost.”
“Why do you always do that?”
He looked at her. “Do what?”
“Defend him. He doesn’t deserve your loyalty.”
Trevor returned his focus to the road but said nothing.
Anger wound its way through her belly like a snake in search of a cool, dark place to hide. She’d gone to see Christopher because she needed to give their marriage one last try, but she’d left with the distinct feeling he had no intention of changing.
So what now?
Her options ranged from bad to worse. She didn’t know what she was going to do, but saying so out loud carried too much weight. Perhaps she’d been turning a blind eye all these years to avoid the very feelings that now smacked her in the face.
After a nearly painful car ride home, Evelyn curtly thanked Trevor for driving and then hid away inside the bungalow.
She took her shoes off and changed into yoga pants, a long cardigan, and a pair of slipper boots. She looked ridiculous, but she was comfortable, and in that moment she had no one to impress. Something about that fact was wonderfully liberating. She’d spent years in her own house “done up” in case someone stopped by.
The knock on the door startled her. Nobody knew she was there.
She crept toward the living room, angling for a glimpse of whoever stood on the porch. With the side of the house obstructing her view, she inched closer until she spotted Whit’s ratty red baseball hat.
She went to the door and yanked it open.
He seemed surprised. “That’s a different look for you.”
She pulled the cardigan around her. “I’m tired of dressing in those stuffy clothes.”
“’Bout time.”
She only stared. “What do you want, Whit?” She hadn’t meant for her tone to be so harsh.
He stuffed his hands in his pockets and focused on the porch. “I came to apologize.”
“For what?” She knew words—any words—didn’t come easily to him. She watched as he avoided looking at her.
“Defending him.” Trevor ran a hand over his whiskered chin. “I want you to know I’m not on his side.”
She softened. “It’s an impossible position for you to be in, and I don’t expect you to choose me over someone you’ve known practically your whole life.”
He met her eyes. “But you were my friend too, Evie.”
The words took her off guard. She hadn’t been the recipient of a kind word from Trevor Whitney since they were in college. She decided not to point that out, though, and attempted to downplay the way it sent a warmth through her that was almost embarrassing. “Well, then you’re the only friend I’ve got.” She took a step back. “You wanna come in and watch a movie?”
He lifted his chin, and for the briefest moment she felt like he could see right through her.
Please don’t see how lonely I am.
His stoic expression didn’t change. “I wish I could, but I’ve got . . . plans.”
Evelyn took a step forward to close the gap she’d left in case he wanted to come in. “Oh, of course. Go.”
“And you’re okay?”
Evelyn’s nod felt a little too enthusiastic. “Have fun.”
He lingered for a few more seconds, then finally turned and walked off the porch. She closed the door but watched for a moment as he got into his truck and drove away, realizing that his departure set something off inside her and dragged those unshed tears to the surface all over again.
It took every ounce o
f strength he had, but Trevor knew spending time with Evelyn that night would be a recipe for disaster. Even if he hadn’t made a promise to himself, Chris’s words haunted him. Chris planned on winning Evelyn back, and Trevor wouldn’t get in the way. Despite all his shortcomings, Chris was her husband, and God could still fix their disaster of a marriage.
He pulled into the alley behind Barb’s Diner and parked his truck. Maggie had probably already arrived, and as tied up as his heart was, he had to at least see if their connection could become stronger.
Come to think of it, bringing Maggie to Barb’s again was kind of an insult. It wasn’t the trendiest option, but it was the first place that had come to mind when they were texting.
She sat in the rear booth, typing on her phone.
He reached the booth and stopped. “Seat taken?”
Maggie looked up and flashed a smile. “It is now.”
He slid onto the bench across from her. “Not the most original place for a date, is it?”
Her head tilted slightly and she studied his face. “Is that what this is?” They’d never defined it before.
Heat rushed to Trevor’s cheeks, and he felt like an idiot, but before he could stutter a response, she reached across the table and took his hand.
“A date, huh?” She grinned.
“Or not.”
“You’re not getting out of this one, mister. What you said just made me feel like a teenager again.” She squeezed his hand. “I’m on a date with Trevor Whitney.” She glanced at the menu.
He watched her for a minute, unsure how to respond. As if being on a date with him was some prize. And yet, if she thought so, who was he to correct her? Her reaction gave him a little ego boost—and who wouldn’t appreciate that?
“I thought maybe you were still hung up on Evelyn,” she said without looking up from her menu. “What are you going to get?”
Trevor frowned. “What do you mean you thought I was ‘still hung up on Evelyn’?”
She set the menu down. “Weren’t you?”
“She’s married to one of my best friends.”
“I meant in high school.”
Change of Heart Page 10
