“Maybe half.”
Beth took a long sip of coffee. Bryce had been right—she did need it for this conversation.
“Anything you want to know, I’ll answer.”
She pressed her hand to her lips, her voice muffled when she spoke. “I don’t want to hear this... but part of me does. Just to know which coworkers have seen you naked.”
Shame flickered across Bryce’s face. He looked away. “The list of women who’ve seen me naked is longer than the list I’ve been with. I’ve streaked at college and work events. Done a couple charity stripteases.”
“What?”
He winced. “I’m sorry, Lizzy.”
She stood and crossed to the window, staring out. Her chest ached. She’d known he had a reputation—but not like this. Her idea of ‘wild’ had been drunken flirting. Her sheltered heart hadn’t imagined anything close to this.
Bryce didn’t move. He wanted to hold her. Comfort her. But he knew that would be more for him than for her. So instead, he prayed. For her heart. For strength. For grace.
Beth stepped outside onto the patio. The air was cool against her skin. She wrapped her arms around herself and whispered, “Lord, I need You here. I know You’ve forgiven him. I know all sin is the same in Your eyes. But right now... I’m angry. I wantto run. I want to hurt him back. Help me forgive him.”
She closed her eyes as the words from Psalm 25 flitted through her mind. The words steadied her. After a long moment, she turned and stepped back inside.
Bryce was sitting at the island, notebook open.
“For what it’s worth, I’m so sorry that I treated a gift that should have been yours alone so lightly.” His eyes shimmered.
Beth nodded.
Beth’s voice was quiet. “I wanted to be my husband’s only one.” She rubbed her eyes. “I knew I wasn’t. I thought I could handle it. But I had no idea what being a ‘playboy’ actually meant.” A humorless chuckle slipped out. “Lynn’s right. I am naïve.”
Bryce’s throat tightened. He didn’t try to defend himself—instead, he leaned forward, forearms resting on his knees, his gaze fixed on the floor.
“I get it,” he said, his voice low. “I hate that you’re hurting because of choices I made long before I ever imagined you in my life. I spent years living like I had nothing to lose. But then I met you… and suddenly, I wished I could go back and undo all of it.”
He looked up, meeting her eyes.
“I can’t rewrite my past, Lizzy. You may not be my first in the way the world counts it… but you’re my first when it comes to doing it God’s way. Holy. Sacredly. Blessed.”
He swallowed, his voice thick. “It was never about love before. It was never about forever. But with you—it is, and Ithank God for that.”
Beth blinked. She hadn’t expected that—not the quiet conviction in his voice, not the weight behind his words. Somehow, it cut through the ache in her chest and began to answer the prayer she’d whispered on the patio.
At a loss for words, she nodded toward the notebook.
“You wrote down the names?”
He nodded slowly and pushed it toward her. “Stars mean they’re no longer at Penrose. There are twenty-four.”
She skimmed the list—and froze. “Donna? The sixty-something nurse from labor and delivery?”
Bryce winced. “We were drunk. Christmas party.”
“Before or after you streaked?”
“Different party.”
“Do you get drunk a lot?”
“Not often. Maybe twice a month. Mostly holidays.”
