Or did he avoid it for other reasons?
"Are you Noelle?" Tamping down her doubt, Paige leaned forward and pinned the other woman with a stare. He'd said Noelle would try to drive Paige away if she found out they were dating.
"Goodness no. I've met Noelle." The other woman shuddered. "That woman is psycho." She reached into her handbag and pulled out her driver's license and laid it on the table. "I'm Avery Buchanan. Phillip and I have been engaged for almost a year. We were getting ready to set a wedding date several months ago, but then he decided we should save for a down payment on a house first."
Paige thought of all the dates Phillip had taken her on. How on earth could he save for a down payment on a house with the kind of money he'd been spending on her? Or had he just told Avery that to string her along, like he'd apparently been doing to Paige for months?
Paige didn’t know it was possible to simultaneously feel anger toward one person, sympathy for another, and an overwhelming sense of loss for herself. The emotions roiling around inside swirled like a tornado in her stomach. The knot growing there expanded to epic proportions. Had Phillip really cheated on her?
No, he usedmeto cheat on his fiancée. The man was engaged to another woman this whole time!
How had she not seen through his lies? Was she really that naive?
Heat flooded Paige's face as she realized the couples at two nearby tables stared at her, their expressions a mixture of condemnation and empathy. Her body grew hot all over as humiliation swept over her.
"I'm sorry." Sympathy covered Avery's face. "I'm sure this is quite a shock to you. It certainly was to me last night when I read Phillip's texts." Her chin lifted. "I hated you immediately for trying to steal my fiancé, but I read far enough back in his texts to know Phillip is far from innocent." Her gaze dropped to her lap where she fiddled with her purse strap. Then her head popped up. "I…I need to know if you've slept with him."
"What?" Paige's head jerked back again. "No, of course not."
Although Philliphadbeen pressuring her lately for an intimate relationship. Thankfully, he backed off each time she said no.
"I don't want to forgive him or hurt you, but I have more than just myself to think about." Tears filled Avery's eyes again.
"What do you mean?" Icy dread filled Paige. The boulder that had taken up residence in her abdomen made her want to vomit. How could the woman even consider forgiving Phillip?
Avery pulled a series of ultrasound pictures from her purse and slid them across the table.
She's pregnant?
Paige quickly spotted Avery's name and the date near the corner of the top image. They were dated three days ago. A staggering pain pierced her chest as her heart split wide open, leaving her gasping for air. All the hopes and dreams she’d built up over the months of starting a family with Phillip vanished.
"This doesn't prove Phillip is the f-father." Her voice was weak as she made a final desperate attempt to tell the redhead she was wrong.
She no longer wanted anything to do with Phillip, but the soul-crushing disappointment that the man she thought she'd be planning a future with was nothing more than a lying cheat hurt more than anything she'd ever experienced.
"You're right." Avery pulled her phone from her purse and tapped the screen a few times. "This is the two of us at the doctor's office earlier this week." She turned her phone screen so Paige could see a selfie that could only have been taken by the blond-haired, hazel-eyed man she was in love with. He crouched next to Avery, who lay on an exam table, stomach exposed. An ultrasound machine stood in the background.
"He knows you're p-pregnant?" She blinked back the tears that screamed for release.
"Yes, and we finally set a wedding date for April second." Avery’s smile looked anything but happy. "I didn't want to have a huge belly in my wedding photos." She gave a small shrug as she pressed her hand to her flat stomach. "We were going make wedding plans over dinner later tonight."
Later.
Of course, Phillip doesn't have a late meeting on Valentine’s Day. And he's getting married in six weeks.
What else had he lied about?
Did he lie every time he told me he loved me? That he couldn’t imagine his future without me in it.
A collision of some sort behind Paige caused plates to clatter to the floor. She jerked, shooting to her feet. A sudden dizziness hit her as her brain scrambled to process what she’d just learned and searched for an escape from this nightmare.
Phillip said he had something important to discuss with her tonight. She thought he was going to propose. But he probably planned to break up with her. Or did he intend to continue to string her along while he lived a double life?
The thought sickened her.
She blinked away hot tears and looked at Avery. The woman had been incredibly nice under the circumstances. She could have come in and made a huge scene with ugly accusations, blaming Paige for everything. But she didn’t.
"I'm so sorry. I swear I had no idea Phillip was enga—" Paige’s voice caught. She darted for the door.
