Page 28 of Fool Me Twice

“Now, where have I heard that before? Oh yes,” Evie said acidly. “When you were trying to get into my knickers.”

“I didn’t have to try very hard, as I remember.”

“What?” Evie leaned across the table, her face inches from his. “You bastard,” she grated out, before pushing back against the table as if he oozed some kind of toxic poison. “If I’d known then what a lying, cheating piece of shit you were, I’d never have got involved with you.” Pacing with her arms flailing by her sides, she continued, “The only reason I slept with you was because I believed you when you said there was no chance of you and your wife reconciling.“ She paused and turned to look at him, her eyes shining. “I trusted you,” she whispered.

The hurt in her eyes ripped through him more than any physical pain. His first instinct was to go to her, wrap her in his arms, make all the hurt and pain go away, but even if he could move, he knew that would be a huge mistake. Evie would think he was trying to make light of his mistakes; she’d interpret it as him trying to make everything all better with a kiss, like you’d do to a small child after they’d fallen over and grazed their knee.

“Evie,” he pleaded, indicating for her to sit down with his left hand. “Please, I’d like to explain.”

“Explain what exactly?” she said through ragged breaths.

This wasn’t going to be easy, he knew that, and Evie had every right to hate him, to give him a hard time. But it was time she knew the truth, and if she still hated him afterwards, that was her prerogative. “Evie, please,” he said in a low voice. “Just give me five minutes to explain what happened. That’s all I ask.”

He half expected her to tell him to go to hell, and from the look on her face when she sat down opposite him, she’d half expected herself to say it as well. “Five minutes.”

Closing his eyes, he took a depth breath. “When I met you,” he began. “Cathy and I, we’d been separated for months, but things hadn’t been going well between us for a long time before that. So, when we split up, I thought that was it. And to be honest, in some ways it was a relief.” He found the courage to voice the words that had been haunting him for a long time. “When I met you, I thought she and I were done, over, and if I’d thought there was even the slightest chance of us getting back together again, I’d never have got involved with you.” As soon as the words left his lips, he knew how what he’d just said sounded.

Evie opened her mouth to say something.

“That came out all wrong,” he said quickly, afraid that if he didn’t tell her everything now, then she might never give him another chance.

Relief washed over him when she leaned back in her chair, but her expression was unreadable.

“I don’t mean it like that, like I was only with you because she didn’t want me. Please don’t think you were ever second best... because you weren’t,” he rushed out. He couldn’t shake the feeling that she was about two seconds from getting up and walking away, and he didn’t want to hasten that by saying something stupid. “Look, when I made my marriage vows on my wedding day, I really expected us to be together forever, but then... things happened... and she left me.” He took another deep breath. Raking through the ashes of his dying marriage was proving far more painful than he imagined. “Then, a few months later, I met you and...”

Evie stood up and began to clear away their abandoned lunch. “And the rest is history.”

“Evie, you’ve got to believe me. If I’d had even the slightest idea that you were pregnant, I would have—“

“What?” She stopped and stared at him, one eyebrow cocked. “Left your wife and come back to play happy families with me and your bastard son? Is that what you would have done?”

“I...” he began, willing her to understand. “No.” He bowed his head. “I probably wouldn’t have, but I would have done the right thing, provided for my son. I would have made sure you were both taken care of.”

“Well, as you can see...” A sweep of her arm indicated their very comfortable surroundings. “We managed just fine without you and your money. We didn’t need anyone to ‘take care’ of us.”

“No, you didn’t. I can see that. You’ve done an amazing job, both with Jaxon and creating all this. You are an amazing woman, Evie.” It was true. He’d never doubted that for one second.

Not then.

Not now.

“If things had been different, then maybe . . .”

“Save it,” Evie said, holding up her hand. “I’ve heard it all before. If your wife hadn’t come back. If that bitch had told you I was pregnant. If you’d known you had a son. I am sick and tired of hearing the same old excuses from you.”

“What the hell was I supposed to do, Evie?” he said, his eyes willing her to understand. “Tell Cathy to leave? Kick her out? Tell her it wasn’t my problem anymore?”

“Don’t be so ridiculous,”

“What then? What should I have done? Tell me.”

“You should have . . .” she paused and took a deep breath. “You should have told me,” she said, struggling to control the tremor in her voice. “Instead of just cutting me off like that. One minute I was on my way to America to join you, then you disappeared. And the next thing I knew, you’d gone back to your wife, and you didn’t want to know about me or the child I was carrying. What was I supposed to think, Peter?”

“How many times? If I’d-”

“And there it is again, ‘If’.”

“What do you want me to say, Evie? I know I should have done things differently, and if-” he stopped himself when he saw the flash of anger in her eyes.

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