“Always,” I said.
With a final pat on my shoulder, Lex stepped back.
I ran toward my car, hoping I was right about where she was.
I hesitated at the doorstep of what was once my forever home, my fingers trembling as they hovered over the doorbell.
The door swung open, and there she stood, Victoria, her expression a mix of surprise and something unreadable. For a moment, neither of us spoke.
“Adam,” she said, her voice tentative. “I…wasn’t expecting you.”
“Can I come in?”
“Of course.” She stepped aside.
As I crossed into the living room, the memories of laughter and planning a life together seemed like the ghosts of a past life. The couch where we’d cuddled, made out, and had sex on was just a couch. The walls that were to be lined with pictures of our life together stood bare.
It was surreal, standing there amid the remnants of a life I thought I wanted.
I sat on the couch and tried to measure my words.
“You said you got what you came for at the botanical gardens, but I didn’t get the same privilege,” I said.
“What do you mean?”
“Why did you leave me on our wedding day? What was so terrible that you couldn’t talk to me?” The question clawed its way out after weeks of gnawing at me from the inside.
She shifted uncomfortably, looking at anything but me. Her hands fidgeted, betraying the calm exterior she tried to project. When her gaze finally met mine, I saw a flicker of something raw and unguarded before she quickly masked it.
“Adam, I am so sorry,” she whispered. “I made a mistake.”
“What kind of mistake?”
“I…um…with…Liam Harper. It was just a slip, an error in judgment,” she quickly added.
“To use your own words, youfuckedour wedding caterer?”
“It wasn’t?—”
I help up a finger. “Mistakes are spilled milk or forgotten anniversaries. You didn’t trip and fall on his dick by accident.”
“Well, when you put it like that.”
I laughed. “Is there another way to put it?” And then I took a breath. “Victoria, we need to rewind a little because, an hour ago, you called me a cheater, and now you’re telling me this.”
“Do you remember the family brunch? The one where you turned up with River hungover and barely able to string a sentence together without wincing?”
I cringed. “Of course I do.” That had been one of the few times I’d been out with River in months and things had gotten a little out of hand. Despite everything, I was still angry with myself for getting that drunk before a family event. “But what does that have to do with you riding Liam’s fun stick?”
She rolled her eyes. “Don’t be childish.”
“You just told me you cheated on me after accusing me of cheating on you. I’m going to be however I want to be.”
Victoria did a double-take as if she wasn’t expecting me to stand up for myself. I pushed that information to the back of my mind and gestured for her to continue.
“That brunch was a nightmare. The looks of pity I got because of you were beyond embarrassing. I bumped into Liam a couple of weeks later at a work function he was catering for. I didn’t know he would be there. We had a drink together afterward and mostly talked about plans for the wedding, but…”
“At some point, you went from discussing cocktail sticks to him showing you his.”
