Page 23 of Always Be Mine

After that, he asked her out on a dinner date, and then another and then…well, she fell hard and fast for him after that.

It took almost ten months before she realized her happy ever after with Ross was never going to happen.

Just thinking about that day when Ross had left his cell phone on the coffee table while he showered, and she saw the pretty blonde face light up on his screen with the name “Wifey” and a heart emoji across the top made her sick to her stomach.

“Who’s the blonde?” she’d asked when he stepped from the bathroom, a towel around his waist. And then, before he could lie to her, she added, “Wifey.”

The smile fell from his face, and that’s when she knew.

“Lucy, it’s not what you think.”

“I think you’re married.”

He didn’t speak right away.

“Ross? Are you married?” She looked at his left hand but there was no ring. There’d never been a ring.

He saw where her eyes traveled. “I’ve never worn it.”

That was the moment it became real. Even when she’d seen the caller ID. Even when he didn’t immediately deny it. She’d hoped it wasn’t true. It couldn’t be true. Ross wasn’t married. He was her boyfriend.

“How long have you been married?” She shook her head before he could answer and stood up. “It doesn’t matter.” She thrust the phone at his chest. “Get out.”

Lucy felt like she was outside of her body. Somehow she was still standing, when she couldn’t feel her limbs at all.

“Lucy.” He juggled the phone in one hand and tried to hold up the towel with the other as he moved toward her. “I love you. It’s not?—”

“Get out, Ross.” She clamped a hand over her mouth before a sob could slip out and ran to the bedroom.

That was the first time she broke up with Ross.

Lucy exhaled slowly, banishing the memory from her mind. She stroked Garfield’s soft fur and scratched behind his ears the way he liked until he was purring so loud that she laughed. “You’re the only man I need in my life, right, buddy?”

The cat mewled and adjusted his weight on her lap.

“I definitely don’t need a liar and a cheat, do I?” She didn’t need Garfield to agree to that one. She already knew the answer to that.

She’d spent weeks in bed after breaking up with him. Going over and over their months together. How had she not known he was married? Why couldn’t she see it? She did not date married men. She wasn’t that person. But she was. And she hated him for putting her in that position.

When she finally dragged herself out of bed and went back to work, Lucy had done her best to avoid him and for a while, she convinced herself that she could still work with him. She’d only been back at work a few weeks when Ross showed up at her apartment with flowers. He declared his love for her and spun story after story about how his marriage had been dead for years and they didn’t love each other anymore. He promised Lucy that he’d ended things with his wife. “It’s only you, honey. It’s always been you. I swear.”

And like the purposefully ignorant woman she had chosen to be, she let her blinders slip back into place, but only momentarily.

Fool me once, shame on you.

She let him pull her to him and wrap his strong arms around her. She could still remember the way his arms felt around her as he held her and whispered reassurances in her ear.

Fool me twice, shame on me.

Ross moved to kiss her, but something stopped her. Lucy turned her head and pulled away. “Prove it.”

“Pardon?”

“Prove it,” she said again. “Prove you’re not with her.”

He chuckled and took a step back. “What do you…why would you…”

“Because you made me the other woman, Ross.” She straightened her spine. “That wasn’t fair. Not to her and not to me. I’m not that kind of person. I feel sick about it.” Lucy had spent many sleepless nights imagining how his wife would feel if she’d found out about them, and even more than Ross’s betrayal, that had broken her heart. She would never purposefully hurt someone like that.

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