Eddie wrenched him away. Lily picked up her daughter and tried to shush her. I walked over to her. “Hey.”
She gave me a pained look. “Oh, I’m so sorry about all that.”
“Do you want to come into the office with me? To talk?”
She nodded. She held the baby while I pushed the stroller down the hall. I gave her a water and let her settle into a chair.
She eyed me. “You changed your hair again.”
When I got over Blaise, I decided it was time for another change. So I chopped my hair to chin length, got bangs, and went back to my natural chocolate brown color.
I ignored her question as I sat beside her. “Are you okay?”
She shook her head. “Not in the slightest. Can I ask you something?”
“Sure…”
“When did you and Seth break up?”
I cringed.
She sighed. “I was the other woman, wasn’t I?”
I nodded. “I didn’t know until he gave me the invitation.”
“It’s because of Rosie, wasn’t it?” she asked. She bounced the baby in her arms, trying to get her to stop crying.
“I assume so. I thought maybe he had changed, that becoming a father made him realize what was important.”
She wiped her eyes. “What did he tell you? About me?”
“Nothing.”
She narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean, nothing?”
I sighed. “Lily, we were high school sweethearts. We were supposed to get married, and then a week before the wedding, he left.”
Her jaw dropped. “You were engaged? Oh my God, and I invited you to my wedding. And asked you to watch my baby. You must think I’m a complete B-I-T-C-H.”
I laughed at her spelling out the cursing again. Especially since she had been letting the f-word fly while she had been yelling at Seth. “No, Lily. I figured you didn’t know.”
She cringed. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
I gave her an uneasy look. “Would you have believed me?”
She shook her head, and the baby fussed a bit. Lily repositioned her, and she seemed to settle. “I’m so sorry. And for causing a scene.”
I put a hand on her arm. “It’s okay. I’m the one who should be sorry. You looked so happy at the wedding. I didn’t think it was my place to tell you.”
“You really were engaged?” she asked.
I nodded.
She sighed and pushed her blonde hair out of her face. “Okay, okay, I can do this. You moved on and are happy now. I need to get a divorce and move on with my life.”
My face must have crumbled at her words because her smile turned down into a frown.
“Veronica? You moved on with Blaise, and you look so happy.”
I blinked back tears. “No.”
What do you mean, no?”
“We broke up.”
“Why?” she cried. “You two looked so in love at my wedding. I was slightly jealous because Blaise paid more attention to you than Seth did to me that night, and we were the ones getting married.”
I wiped the tears from my eyes.
“Oh, honey, what happened?” she asked.
I was supposed to be comforting this woman who had just gotten her heart stomped on by the man she loved, not the other way around. But the tears fell despite me trying to keep all the emotions in. The baby had fallen asleep, so Lily gently tucked her back into the stroller.
I wanted to find the words, but I couldn’t. Instead, I blubbered out gibberish while she ‘momed’ me, rubbing my back and telling me everything was going to be okay.
Is that what mothers did? I’d never know.
I wiped my face. “Sorry.”
“Tell me,” she urged.
“We hooked up last summer, but I don’t do relationships.”
She frowned. “Because Seth broke your heart.”
I nodded and wrung my hands. I trailed my hands over the flower tattoo that covered up Seth’s name. Her eyes widened. “Oh, Veronica. I knew he covered up your name, but you had his name tattooed too?”
I nodded. “Cover-up tattoos are my specialty now.”
She squeezed her eyes shut. “I’m so sorry.”
I shook my head. “It’s not your fault.” She opened her mouth to protest, but I held up a hand. “It’s not. He did us both wrong. I walked away with my heart shattered, but you have your daughter to worry about, too.”
“I know,” she admitted softly. “But I want to know what happened with you and Blaise. You looked so happy.”
“Lily, it wasn’t real. We were just pretending.”
Her eyes were saucers, and looking into her blue eyes reminded me of what it was like to look into Blaise’s. Like when we had made love, and he looked deep into my eyes before he kissed me like he meant it.
“Because of me,” she said sadly.
I shook my head. “Because of Seth.”
“Can I admit something to you?”
“Sure.”
“I think he did it on purpose.”
“Did what?”
“I wasn’t on the pill.”
“Oh?”
She stared at me for a moment, and then my eyes got wide as I realized what she was getting at. I was on the pill, but sometimes he conveniently ‘forgot’ to put a condom on. He always pulled out, but I wondered now. What kind of monster did that? I clenched my hands into fists. I was mad for this woman, for her baby, and for what the asshole would continue to put her through.
I wanted to say something else, but the door to the office opened, and my brother stood there with a deer in headlights look.
Lily smiled up at him. “I’m sorry.”
Alex shook his head. “I need to talk to my sister, but are you okay? Do you want one of us to walk you to your car?”
She shook her head. “I’m fine. Thanks though. I’m sorry about the disruption. I found those receipts, and he had been dodgy all week.”
Alex nodded.
Lily gave me a quick hug and stood up. “Veronica, I think you should call him because you may say it wasn’t real, but I know what I saw with my own two eyes.”
Alex walked her out, and I sat back in the office and tried to bury myself in the bookkeeping, but then my brother came back into the office. He stared at me, but I pretended not to notice him.
“Talk to me,” he urged.
I waved my hand at him. “No, go away. I have to figure out why these numbers don’t match.”
He took the papers out of my hands. “No. I said talk to me, sis.”
“I’m still so angry with you. Now, do you understand why?” I sneered at him.
He nodded, running a tattooed hand through his short hair. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have hired him. I thought you would have been okay with it.”
“Are you serious?”
He sighed. “I’m sorry. Okay?”
I nodded. “He’s a good artist. So I get why you did it. Still pissed, though.”
“I’m sorry. But you’ve been in a bad mood since you and Blaise broke up, so let’s talk.”
“It wasn’t real,” I admitted.
He raised an eyebrow. “What wasn’t?”
“Our relationship!” I exclaimed. Why weren’t people understanding that what Blaise and I had was all a facade? The only things real were the feelings that crept into my heart. “When you hired that asshat, I saw Blaise at the desk, and I got this idea in my head that I could get back at my ex by pretending I dated that hot hockey player.”