“Are you still worried that they’ll find you?” I ask, and she nods.
“Which is another reason why I like having Verek around,” Tessa explains. “Between him and Paul, who do you think could take on those assholes?”
Verek. The Savage King always has a gun strapped to him just like Roman and the other guys, ready and eager to use it if necessary. It takes less than a second to come to a decision between which of the two men can protect Tessa better.
“Point taken,” I agree.
“Verek and I, we just talk, you know? He’s become a good friend. Mostly he just talks about that club, Fluid. He’s the manager; he runs it for that motorcycle club all these guys are with. He talks about music, about living at the beach, all sorts of stuff to take my mind off things. Will…will you talk to Roman for me? Or should I ask Verek to talk to him since they’re closer?”
“I-I don’t know,” I say when I flop down into a chair and scrub my palms over my face as a massive headache begins to form. “I don’t know anything right now.”
“Is everything okay? I thought you would want to stay another month, but if I’m wrong, just go home, Charlotte.”
“Roman asked me to stay with him this morning, like permanently,” I explain.
“Wow. That’s great news, right? I thought you were having fun with him.”
“I am. We were having fun,” I agree. “I thought it was just fun, nothing serious, and then he hit me with a Mack truck load of information today.”
“What information?” Tessa asks.
“You know how I told you that Roman knew Adam from their time in the military?”
“Yes.”
“Well, he says that he knew him so well that Adam told Roman that he was having an affair and that he — that Adam has a son…”
“A son?” Tessa gasps. “With whom?”
“A woman named Meredith who was serving with them.”
“That’s…that’s crazy, though. Adam would’ve told you if he cheated on you, right?” she asks.
“I thought he would, but what if Roman is telling the truth?” I reply. “If he is, then I’m not sure if I really knew my husband.”
“Maybe Roman’s wrong and it was just some gossip on the base or whatever,” Tessa offers.
“Roman showed me a photo of the boy,” I admit to her while chewing on my thumbnail. “There’s definitely a resemblance. I’ve seen Adam’s baby photos, and the two of them are…very similar.”
“Do you believe him?”
“I don’t want to.”
“Of course you don’t!” she exclaims. “Who wants to believe that their dead husband had an affair and a child with another woman?”
“I know! And I’m just…I’m so freaking angry at Roman!”
Tessa’s brow creases. “You’re angry at Roman? Why are you angry at him?”
“Because he knew about this and didn’t tell me!”
“You’re angry at the poor man for being honest with you when your own husband wasn’t?” she asks, which of course sounds ridiculous when she says it out loud.
“Yes. It’s crazy, I know, but Roman did other things too!”
“Like what?” Tessa asks.
“The flowers on Valentine’s Day and the beach house rental every week for our anniversary, to name a few…”
“That was all Roman?”
“Yes. It was wrong of him to make me think it was Adam!”
“Charlotte, honey, do you think maybe your anger should be redirected to someone else?”
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“Why are you angry at Roman when, to me, it sounds like you should be pissed at Adam?”
“How can I be angry at a dead man?” I huff. “He’s gone. Adam isn’t here for me to yell at him!”
“No, he’s not here in the flesh. But that doesn’t mean you can’t yell at Adam or be mad at him. And, girl, if anyone deserves your wrath, it’s your cheating husband. He impregnated another woman! His child that he should’ve had with you is out there in the world, running around, looking like him! If that doesn’t make your blood boil, then I don’t know what will.”
“I hear what you’re saying, I do,” I tell her. “It’s just, I feel so blindsided by Roman, like he told me now so that I would choose him over Adam.”
“But that’s not even a choice, right?” Tessa says. “Only one of them is alive and head over heels in love with you…”
“It just, it doesn’t feel right. None of this makes any sense!”
“It makes sense to me,” she replies. “Roman cared about you before he even knew you, so much so that he made you feel special at least two times every year. And then these past few weeks, he’s made it obvious to anyone who can see that he would do anything for you. If you walk away from him, I don’t think you’ll ever forgive yourself, Charlotte.”
“I don’t know how to feel about him hiding all this from me…” I try to explain.
“What was he supposed to do?” Tessa demands. “Show up at the memorial and make a scene in front of you and both of your families? When would have been a good time for you, really? I don’t think he ever would have told you if he didn’t care for you so much. You’re letting your life slip by mourning the memory of a man who did deserve your love, and who was your best friend. But while you’ve been hanging onto this idea that Adam was your one and only, forever and ever, the truth is that he was out there loving someone else. He even gave her the child you had wanted to share with him.”
Tessa stops talking when she sees the tears rolling down my face and reaches
