Page 140 of Doctorshipped
“He’s not a widower?” Em clarifies.
I shake my head again.
“He’s divorced. When Margot got cleared of her cancer, she did the wholeEat, Pray, Lovething and left him and Fiona to go find herself, or whatever.”
“I love that book,” Shannon says.
“I liked the movie,” Em adds.
“Irrelevant,” Laura says.
“Right. Right.” They both answer in unison.
“Anyway, she didn’t tell him she was coming, so he was completely blindsided. I walked in, carrying flowers, ready for an hour together with Grant before Fiona got home … and, yeah.”
“Oh, Jayme,” Shannon says.
“Yeah. It sucks.”
Everyone looks at me with compassion.
“So, bottom line, we talked tonight. He’s sorry. But, the thing is, he didn’t tell me about her. I thought she was dead. He knew I thought she was dead. He never cleared that up. How can I be with a man who withholds big, important chunks of himself from me? How can I trust him with the hardest situations in my life? How can I trust him with my heart?”
Everyone silently nods.
“And the worst part is,” my breath goes wobbly again and I fight tears. “I love him.”
A tear slips out and slides down my cheek. Shannon reaches over and dabs it.
Lexi’s voice goes really soft. “Awww, Jayme. You fell in love.”
I nod, more tears fall. Lexi stands and walks over to me. She sits on the other side so I’m flanked by her and Shannon. Before I know it, all four women have me in a group hug, huddle, dog pile sort of thing. My tears fall, but they slow, and then stop.
I’ve got my friends. I’ll be okay.
“Okay,” Lexi says. “Pregnant hot flash! I need air.”
We separate and Lexi goes back to the other couch.
Once she’s settled, she asks, “How did you guys leave things?”
“I told him I need a man I can trust. I deserve better. But I told him I’m not shutting the door on us. I’m still going to tutor Fiona, but he’ll stay in his office when I’m at the house. It’s going to be hecka awkward. And then … I don’t know. I just don’t know how we get past this.”
“What did he say?” Em asks.
“He said he wants to fight for us—to be the man worthy of my trust. I told him he already is. In so many ways, he is. But, he’s going to have to work some sort of miracle because I want to fix this—I’d fix it for us if I could—and I just don’t know if we can be fixed.”
“I’m so proud of you,” Lexi says.
“Why?”
“You stood up for yourself.”
“You know your worth,” Shannon adds.
“He doesn’t deserve you,” Laura says, which makes me want to defend how great Grant is—all the compliments he’s always sincerely giving me, and the doting, and the way he listens and pays attention. But, I also know she’s right.
This deception of his sort-of cancels out all of that in a weird romance-math way. Because all his secrecy showed me is that even though I trusted Grant, he didn’t trust me—not enough to share his darkest secrets when it mattered most.
