He drove back to the main road, trying to figure out where she might have gone.And made a gut decision to try Shipwreck Cove, because she liked to go there and decompress.
She might hate him now, but he was still going to protect her.First he had to find her, and then he would tell her everything.If she was willing to listen.And if she cut him out of her life after that...
As long as she was safe, he would just have to live with the consequences of his actions.
“No!”Bronwyn said inhorror over the phone after Willow blurted out everything that had happened between her and Tripp over the past two days.
“Yep.”Reception was spotty out here.Their call had already dropped twice in the past few minutes, so she’d spewed everything out as fast as possible.She was slightly out of breath.
“Do you think it’s true?”
She trudged through the woods, letting Rufus have the full length of his leash.They’d been walking for about twenty minutes, and she still hadn’t calmed down, her mind going round and round in endless, chaotic circles.“Yes.The guilt was written all over his face.”
Remembering his stricken expression after Earl had dropped the bomb, she wanted to cry again.This sucked.
Part of her still didn’t want to believe it.She’d cooled off enough to admit that Tripp wouldn’t have let her brother die without good reason.But it hurt and infuriated her that he would hide the truth from her this whole time while entering into a relationship with her.
Whatever had happened, he should have been honest with her from the start.“How could he not have told me?How could he have lied all this time, especially given what was happening between us?”
Now everything they’d built together was ruined because it was built on a lie.
“I don’t know.He definitely should have told you before things got physical.I’m so sorry, Will.I feel so bad for you.”
She swallowed the lump in her throat.“Thanks.The worst part is, if Earl hadn’t said anything, I might never have known.”She would have carried on with Tripp, giving him more and more of herself while staying totally ignorant of what had happened.How could he have done this to them?He must have known the truth would come out at some point.
Bronwyn made a sympathetic sound.“It’s awful.Are you going to hear him out at least?I mean, once you’re ready, so you know what really happened.Maybe he couldn’t tell you for security reasons.”
“He was working for a private company, not the military.But yeah, at some point I want to talk to him face to face.Only because I want to know the truth.Assuming he’ll tell me the truth.”She couldn’t leave it like this now.She had to know, no matter how much it hurt.And she deserved the chance to confront him in person.
“I get it.But, Will...”
She frowned at the way Bronwyn hesitated.“What?”
“You love him, right?”
She hitched in a breath, her eyes stinging.“I want to punch him in the face.”His beautiful, battle-scarred face that would haunt her for the rest of her life.“Shake him until his teeth rattle and scream at him for doing this to me.”Tothem.“Letting me fall completely in love with him and then not telling me he’s the reason Peyton died.”
“I understand.I kind of want to punch him too.Right in the nasal bones.”
She half-smiled at her friend’s attempt at humor.“You’re such a nerd.”
“I know.”Bronwyn sighed.“I dunno, Will.He must’ve known this would come out eventually.Maybe there’s a good explanation for what happened.Or...”
“Or what?”
“Maybe it was out of his control.”
Now that she’d cooled off a bit, Willow could admit it was possible.“Maybe.But no matter what really happened, I don’t know if I can ever forgive him for not telling me.”
Bronwyn made a sympathetic sound.“I understand that.But I also understand why he would want to protect you from more pain.”
Willow scowled, a little stung.“You’re supposed to be taking my side here, Bron.”
“I know, but the scientist in me has to see both sides.”She paused a moment.“Boy, makes a lot of sense now why he wound up in treatment though, doesn’t it?I can’t imagine the guilt he’s been carrying.”
“Yeah,” Willow said quietly, a new ache blooming inside her chest.She was heartbroken and furious at him, but now she couldn’t help hurting for him too.
She thought of what Mae had said to her on the phone earlier.Imagined Tripp that terrible day in Syria, wounded and in pain, fighting for his own life while trying to protect his men under enemy fire.The mental and emotional suffering he’d endured while undergoing his own recovery.His deepest scars weren’t the ones he carried on his skin.
