“I’ve had a lot of things for twenty years.Regret.Rage.Confusion,” he said with a sigh.“I saw Nicole today.”
She sobered.“Nicole?”
“Nicole.”
Another pause, longer this time.
“You saw her?”
“We’re opposing counsel in a murder trial,” he said.
That got a full-throated laugh out of her.“You’re kidding.The two of you fighting in court after all this time.It’s like the universe is saying you have unfinished business between the two of you.And that must be the reason for your call.”
“I need answers.Answers from twenty years ago.”
“It’s taken you twenty years to call and ask me what happened that night.Twenty fucking years.I kept waiting for your call to ask me what happened, but nothing.Absolutely nothing.”
He’d tried to reach her, but stranded in a foreign country without his phone, it was impossible.By the time he made it back, the damage was done.The marriage was over, the relationship shattered—and all he could do was gather the jagged pieces of his life and force himself to keep moving.
“What can I say?I was young, stupid, and so in love with Nicole that I couldn’t believe she ended our marriage before it even had a chance to begin.I went from Europe to college.It took me months to get over her, and I think I’ve hated her for the last twenty years.”
“You two were so in love.I had such high hopes for you,” she said.“She told me that you broke it off.Did you?”
“No, she said the same thing to me outside of the courtroom.”He smiled faintly.“Today was surreal.But also...maddening.She thinks I abandoned her.That I walked away.She brought up some email, one I supposedly sent.I never did.”
Silence.
He pressed his palm to his eyes.“I thought she changed her mind.I thought she...I don’t know.Regretted marrying me.She emailed me saying it was a mistake.And then, nothing.She ghosted me.Never answered my calls.Never wrote.Nothing.”
“She told me the same thing,” Paige said softly.“That you broke it off with her.That you wanted your freedom.That your parents pressured you and you went along with it.”
“That’s not what happened.”
“I know,” Paige whispered.“At least, I suspected something wasn’t right.But, what good is digging up all of this now?”
Tripp sat back, heart pounding.“I need closure.To understand what happened so I don’t repeat the same mistake.Tell me.Please.What do you remember?”
She was quiet for a long moment.
“My mom...she figured it out.She always had a sixth sense when something was going on.You two were too lovesick to hide anything, especially from our mothers.”
The last night, at the party, he’d seen Paige’s mother watching them.If he had to do it over again, he’d be much better at sneaking off.
“I didn’t tell you where we were going.”
“I didn’t need to know the address.”There was a heavy sigh.“My mother insisted I tell your mother what you and Nicole were doing.Somehow my mother figured out that something was up.So about an hour after you left, I had to tell your mother and father where the two of you had gone.Thank goodness you didn’t tell me the name of the chapel, or they would have put toothpicks under my nails to get me to talk.I didn’t dare try to reach you, because they were watching me very carefully.My mother had eyes like an eagle hawk in the front and back of her head.”
Reaching up, he rubbed his temple, feeling his headache from what she was telling him.So his parents had known they were eloping and had been unable to stop them.“What about Nicole’s parents?Were they there?”
“No, but your mother was looking up their address.I think she thought they were in on the wedding.That they had a reception planned or something, so she wanted to go and stop the partying.”
Nicole’s parents were rather sedate and would have been home watching television or in bed due to how early her father rose each morning.
“That’s all I know.I don’t know what happened after your parents left the country club in such a ditter.Your mother was crying,” she said.“And your father just kept shaking his head.”
The memories swam before his eyes, and he closed them against the pain.“It was a beautiful ceremony.We told the preacher she was pregnant, and he married us right away.Afterward, we went to the Salt Bay Inn and spent the night.”
The vision of her long, dark hair curling down her back, the satin white nightgown clinging to her curves, had him almost moaning.They’d been so in love, and that night, he almost wished they had created a baby.At least then, maybe they would still be together.
