I’m not coming down that aisle. And it’s not because I don’t love you. I do. In some messed-up, selfish way, I do. But I’ve done something I can’t undo, and I can’t let you say vows to someone who’s been lying to you.
The baby isn’t yours.
It happened while you were in PA. I was so mad at you that I made a horrible decision.
I’ve hated myself for it every day since.
I can’t marry you knowing what I did. I won’t stand in front of God and you and everyone knowing the truth. You are a good man, and I hope someday you’ll find someone who deserves you. Someone who doesn’t run when things get hard.
-Bree
— End flashback —
“Oh my…” Karissa breathes.
“I never saw her again,” I murmur. “Told everyone she got cold feet. That she just ran. No one else read that letter.”
Karissa doesn’t say anything.
“So basically, she slept with me because she needed the timing to make sense. I think she had to have known she was pregnant when we slept together. I’ll never know for sure, but that’s what I think.”
“I’m so sorry,” she says, but I shrug like it doesn’t still sting.
“I never told anyone the truth.” I finally look at her.
“Why not?” she whispers.
I exhale. “Because admitting what really happened comes with more than justshe cheated, it comes with explaining how I stumbled along the way and—”
“You both did, though. It wasn’t just you. Takes two to tango.”
“Obviously. But I’m the man. It’s my job in the relationship to lead us and lead her, and I failed that night, so easily.” I swallow. “And it makes it even worse that I gave myself to someone who didn’t deserve it.”
Karissa looks down at herself. “Well, that makes two of us,” she says.
After all this time, I thought I was the only one. Turns out, I’m not.
Chapter 19
Karissa
The room feels different now. Weighted. Like something just exploded and now all the dust is settling.
Cody is leaned back in the chair across from me. I can practically see the wall rebuilding itself behind his eyes. Like maybe he wishes he hadn’t said anything.
I stare at him for a second before I speak. “You didn’t deserve that.”
He doesn’t look at me, though. “Don’t tell anyone.”
“I won’t.”
“I mean it, Karissa.” His voice has a rough edge.
“I know. I won’t.” My hands fidget in my lap. The baby monitor glows dimly beside me, soft white noise in the background the only thing I hear.
“I know what it feels like,” I say finally. “To be talked into something you weren’t ready for.”
His eyes are on me now.
