Page 86 of Delivery After Dark
She raised her head ever so slightly to find him watching her with gorgeous blue eyes that she’d thought of as kind eyes from the first time she met him. Nothing she’d seen from him since then had changed that first impression.
“I don’t trust myself anymore.”
“How come?”
“If you’d have told me my husband would do what he did, I would’ve bet my life there’d be no way… I’d be dead.”
“That’s on him, not you.”
“Maybe so, but it’s a reflection of me and the life I thought I was living when he was off having a completely different kind of life.”
“Monique… Look at me.”
She forced herself to make eye contact.
“You shouldn’t take responsibility for what he did. I have no doubt you were an exceptional partner to him, and he let you down epically. But it would be tragic if you let him steal your future happiness along with your past happiness.”
She wiped away a tear that escaped down her left cheek. “I never saw it coming. That’s the part I’ve had the hardest time coping with. I pride myself on not missing a thing. How’d I miss that?”
“He made sure of it. My dad was like him. He had two kids with two other women in our town—kids I went to high school with—and I had no idea they were my half siblings until the whole thing blew up when I was in college. If you’d asked me, I would’ve said he was a great husband and father, the kind of man people looked up to, including me and my brothers and our friends.”
“That must’ve been such a shock.”
“It was pretty bad, especially for my mom and my two younger brothers, who were still at home when the shit hit the fan. At least I was away for most of it.”
“I’m sure it still messed you up.”
“I ended up on academic probation that semester, which is a big deal at the Coast Guard Academy.” He ran his hand over her calf, setting off a reaction she felt everywhere. “The thing about guys like them is they get off on the deception. That’s part of the attraction, the getting away with it, you know?”
“One of my friends thinks Jaden is a sociopath because he lies as easily as he breathes.”
“My dad is for sure, and he’s a narcissist, which is an awesome combination.”
“Yikes.”
“Yeah, it’s been a lot, but we’re all doing better these days. My brothers are married to great women, and they each have a couple of kids and successful careers.”
“What about your mom?”
“She’s got a significant other who makes her happy, but she’ll never marry him.”
“Is he okay with that?”
“I think he’d like to be married, but he gets why she won’t risk her independence or her financial security.”
“I hope that means she took your dad to the cleaners.”
“Big-time.”
“Good for her.”
“We were all firmly on Team Mom.”
“Do you see him?”
“Not much. He lives in Colorado with wife number three and has a couple more kids with her. I’ve never met her or the kids, but my brothers have. They say she’s cool and the kids are cute, but they’ll never be family to us or anything like that.”
“What about his other kids, the ones from when you were in high school?”
