“I believe you. But I also believe that if we don’t make plans now, I won’t get another chance to talk to you any time soon.”
Beth turned to him, considering his words. She hated to admit it, but he was right, if she didn’t agree to a time to meet with him now, she would put it off as long as possible.
“You’re right,” she admitted quietly. “As tempting as it is to pretend this never happened, we can’t. We have to figure out what to do next. But until we know if I’m... well, you know... we don’t even know whether this is something we can erase with an annulment or if we’ll have to go through an actual divorce. It’s like everything hinges on something I can’t even say out loud yet.”
“We could discuss the possibility of staying married. While I never planned to marry, I swore if I did, I’d never get a divorce—especially if kids were involved,” Bryce said pensively.
Feeling slightly attacked, Beth responded in kind, her voice clipped and defensive.
“Yeah, well, divorce was never in my plans either. I swore I’d save myself for marriage—and that I’d never marry someone who wasn’t a Christian.”
She gave in to the swirl of emotion, brushing past the logic that told her he hadn’t meant it as an accusation.
Frustrated, Bryce ran a hand through his hair. “You’re not the only one whose plans got ruined.”
He studied her face, deciding not to point out that, technically, she had saved herself for marriage. Instead, he focused on what had been stirring in his heart since the hotel room.
He hesitated just a beat, his jaw tightening before he spoke again—quieter now, his voice slipping into that calm, steady bedside tone he used with anxious patients. The one that reassured without pushing, inspired confidence without pressure. The one that could smooth ruffled feathers.
“I know this probably isn’t what you want to hear right now,” he said, his gaze steady on her, “but I want to make this work.”
“What? No!”
Beth’s voice rang out far louder than she intended, drawing several curious glances from nearby passengers. Her cheeks flushed as she quickly shook her head, emphatically dismissing the idea.
“Bryce, I don’t see that happening.”
Her response came too fast, too sharp—and the sting of itlingered. It wasn’t just the idea of staying married she was rejecting. It felt personal. Like she was rejecting him.
But deep down, she knew the truth: she was trying to smother that small, buried hope. The one that whispered maybe—just maybe—being married to her secret crush could actually work.
He nodded slowly, accepting her where she was, not where he wished she’d be.
“Let me come with you.”
“Where?”
“To your parents’. Let me come. Let me help you explain what happened.”
“No.” She shook her head. “No, that’s not a good idea.”
“Why not? Don’t you think they’ll want to meet me?”
“Probably. But not by showing up with no warning, knocking on the door and saying, ‘Hey, Mom and Dad, meet your new son-in-law.’ I can’t think of a worse way to tell them.”
“Is your dad the type to hit first and ask questions later?”
Beth took a moment to really look at the man sitting beside her, at his wavy brown hair and beautiful chocolate-colored eyes. Khakis and a button-down shirt gave him a look that straddled the line between professional and casual. His build was strong—athletic without being bulky. She blushed slightly, thinking that she now knew why his dress shirts hung so well on his frame.
His abs were chiseled into a six-pack, his shoulders sculpted. He hadn’t let his body go soft in the decade since he was a linebacker on his college football team.
Then she mentally pictured her dad—tall, wiry, with thinning brown hair and the limbs of an overgrown spider monkey. The image of her dad trying to lunge at Bryce with a music stand or smack him over the head with a violin sent a giggle bubbling up. The stress of the day pushed it into full-blown laughter.
By the time the beverage service came, she had tears streaming down her face and a bewildered doctor sitting beside her.
Finally catching her breath, she assured him he didn’t need to worry about getting hit. She didn’t try to explain away her sudden outburst.
Still, she insisted that just showing up together wasn’t the right way to tell them.
