During the week, he’d meet me at my college to take me to lunch, where he introduced me to sex in public locations.
“Come with me to Europe,” he said mid-week as we sat in the large tub of yet another fancy hotel room. “If you come with me, I won’t be so miserable.”
I turned in the tub to look at him, not quite believing what he was asking. Sure, I was head over heels in love with him by now, but I’d been pretty sure this was just a fling for him.
“I have to finish school.”
“Do it online. Besides, what better place to learn than in Europe?”
I wanted to go so badly. Not to see Europe, but to continue to see him.
“I know it sounds nuts, but I’m not ready for this to end and I can’t get out of going.” He held my face in his hands. “I’m crazy for you, Serena. Tell me you feel the same.”
I nodded. “I do.”
“Then come with me.”
I swallowed. “Yes. Yes, I’ll come with you.”
The day before I was supposed to leave, I was preparing to tell my parents, but having a hard time figuring out how. They’d think I was being impulsive. They’d say this was young love that wouldn’t last. How could I convince them otherwise?
A knock on my dorm room door interrupted my plotting. I opened it to find an extremely well-dressed woman in her early fifties.
“Ms. Serena Moore?”
“Yes.”
“I’m Katherine Roarke. Devin’s mother.”
Oh crap, I thought as I looked down at my sweatpants and t-shirt. “Mrs. Roarke. Come in.”
She glanced through my room like she was afraid it was infested. But she stepped inside. “I’ve come to tell you not to go to Europe with my son.”
I frowned. “Why not?” Inwardly I kicked myself. She didn’t want me to sully her son, I was sure.
“Because he’s leading you on.”
Huh?
She gave me an apologetic stare. “I’m afraid my son is spoiled and entitled. It’s one reason we’re sending him to Europe. He needs to grow up. Learn to be responsible.”
The Devin I knew seemed grown up and responsible enough.
She sighed. “He’s not in love with you. In fact, you’re not the only woman he spends time with.”
Something in my chest shifted. I didn’t want to believe her, and yet, I could feel my faith in Devin slip. He was young, rich and handsome. He could have any woman he wanted. In the near-week we’d been together, I couldn’t figure out what he saw in me.
“I hate to do this. Every time I have to talk to some young woman, I hate it. Somewhere I’ve done wrong by him.”
My heart began to split as she pulled out something from her purse. She handed it to me.
“This is Devin the other day.”
I looked at the photograph of Devin with a gorgeous blonde woman who was clearly from his world. He had his arm around her, and she had her hand on his chest, gazing up at him with adoration. He was smiling down at her.
“Why Evelyn puts up with his philandering ways, I don’t know. My husband doesn’t stray. We’re hoping he’ll grow out of it.”
Evelyn. Was that the Evie that sometimes came up in conversation?
I stared at that picture, as I replayed the last days I spent with Devin. The man in this picture, that his mother was describing, wasn’t the man I knew. But then, how much did I really know about him? Only what he told me.
“This younger generation does love to sow its oats.” She smiled sympathetically. “At the expense of nice young women like you. I do apologize for my son.”
I handed the picture back.
She put the photo back in her purse. “I’m prepared to compensate you. Sometimes money can soothe the hurt.”
I was pretty sure Fort Knox wouldn’t fix my hurt. I shook my head. “No. That won’t be necessary.”
She studied me for a moment, and I guessed that the other women she’d had this talk with had taken the money.
“So, you won’t go?” she asked.
I shook my head. “I have to finish school. I graduate in May.”
“How wonderful. Your parents must be very proud.” She handed me a business card. “If there’s anything we can do to help you get a job after you graduate, let me know.”
I felt numb as I shoved the card in my sweatpants’ pocket. “Thank you.”
I didn’t respond to Devin’s calls or texts that night or the next day. I didn’t show up at the airport when he left. Within a month, I began to feel like maybe I’d be able to put him in the past. And then I discovered I was pregnant.
1 Serena—Five Years Later
Life can change in an instant. One impulsive action can rewrite the trajectory of a life. For me, it had been getting caught up in Devin Roarke. One minute I was a college student studying business with the goal of a corporate job and the next I was planning to run off to Europe with a man I’d only just met. That short encounter changed everything that would happen in my life from then on.
I looked in on Andrew, the sweet child borne from that impulsive week. I wasn’t complaining about the impact he had on my life. While I’d been terrified to learn I was pregnant, I couldn’t regret that it had happened.
My parents were disappointed and even suggested I consider adoption for my unborn child. Of course, once he was here, he gave new joy to all of us. My mother retired from teaching to help me care for him as I set out with my degree to find work.
Lucky for me, I got a job at an
