Chapter Two
Lorelie
Everyone bursts into laughter as Harvey’s wife, Lauren, finishes her story about the mechanic who spent ten full minutes explaining the importance of engine oil to her.
It’s funny because Lauren is a lead engineer at one of the biggest motor companies in Austen. Her specialty? Engines.
“So I let him finish,” she says, waving a hand, “and then he ends the whole lecture by changing my oil. Free of charge, of course.”
The table erupts again. Even I can’t keep a straight face.
Zoey lifts her glass. “Careful. That’s how they get you, free services and imaginary charges for things like car rejuvenation.”
“What the fuck?” Harvey chokes, nearly spitting out his drink.
“Language,” Colter says, smiling into his napkin.
Harvey raises a hand in apology and glances at Milo, who is far too busy stuffing spaghetti into his mouth to care about anyone’s vocabulary.
I shift my eyes to Patrick.
He’s been quiet since the Brick incident. I know it means he’s still thinking about it.
I curse myself silently.
Why did I tell him? Why didn’t I just brush it off? It was years ago, before Patrick and I were even us. And knowing him, knowing his streak of possessiveness, of course he’d take it badly.
And he doesn’t even know the worst part yet.
Eloise turns to me, cutting a piece of salmon. “How’s work, dear?”
I push my plate away a little and sigh. “Well, the increase in the number of people who-” I make exaggerated bunny ears with my fingers, “fall on things and end up with them lodged in their behinds is alarming. Like… really alarming.”
Harvey barks out a laugh. “Tell me about it. Last week, we had to cavity search a seventy-year-old woman.”
Zoey drops her fork with a clatter. “Eugh, Harvey, really? I’m eating.” Then, after a beat, she leans in. “Did you find anything?”
Harvey nods solemnly. “Two rings and a pendant.”
Zoey’s jaw drops. “Oh my god!”
Colter just keeps eating, like this is all normal dinner conversation. Eloise pinches the bridge of her nose. Lauren hides her face behind her wine glass, shoulders shaking with silent laughter.
I glance at Patrick again. Still quiet.
I’m guessing announcing the baby is off the table tonight.
Colter turns toward him. “You’re quiet tonight, son.”
Harvey snorts. “He’s probably basking in his promotion. I remember that feeling.”
Harvey’s a Sergeant in Robbery for the Austen PD; Patrick’s in Missing Persons. They’ve always had this polite, competitive thing going.
Patrick clears his throat. “Actually…”
He looks at me. Takes my hand on the table.
“I was thinking about the new baby.”
Everything stops.
“What?” Colter blurts, halfway between a shout and a choke.
Eloise gasps, eyes going wide, and before I can blink she’s on her feet. “I knew it! I knew it, but I didn’t want to assume!” She throws her arms around me, squeezing so hard my ribs creak. “Congratulations, sweetie!”
Harvey pushes his chair back with a loud scrape. “Oh my God!” He rounds the table to hug Patrick, then me, then Patrick again. “A new niece or nephew? Congratulations!”
Lauren stands too, clapping her hands. “A new baby! That’s amazing!”
Zoey jumps up next, shrieking. “I KNEW you were glowing! I told Mom!” She hugs me, then Milo, then Patrick, bouncing like she’s the one having the baby.
Colter rises last, his face softening into something warm and awe-struck. He hugs Patrick first, one of those rare, full-bodied dad hugs, then pulls me into a gentler one. “This is… this is good news,” he says quietly. “Real good news.”
A few nearby tables are staring. Someone even applauds.
The seven of us freeze, like we all suddenly realized we’re making a scene in the middle of a crowded restaurant.
Eloise exhales, smoothing her blouse. “Okay, okay, everyone sit. Sit.”
Harvey laughs as he drops back into his chair. “Damn, we’re loud.”
Zoey grins. “Worth it.”
I sit too, cheeks warm, heart pounding, family still buzzing around us.
But when I glance sideways at Patrick… his jaw is tight again.
Like the announcement was something he had to get through, not something he wanted to share.
I thought announcing the pregnancy would feel like celebration.
Not… whatever that was.
Not like something he wanted to check off the list so we could move on.
Everyone launches into questions at once.
“When’s the due date?” Eloise asks, clasping her hands together.
“Any cravings yet?” Lauren adds, eyes bright.
Harvey leans forward. “You guys finding out the gender?”
Zoey practically vibrates. “You better find out. I need to know whether I’m buying tiny boots or tiny bows.”
Lauren turns toward me, already planning. “I’d love to throw you a baby shower, Lorelie. Something classy. Modern. Maybe at my mom’s vineyard!”
I lift a shoulder, a small shrug. “This is our second. Everyone already gave us such beautiful stuff for Milo. I still have most of it.”
Lauren shakes her head. “Doesn’t matter. Second babies need celebrating too.”
Zoey nods vigorously. “Yeah! And I want to make a diaper cake. Or… whatever the hell Pinterest people make.”
They keep talking about ideas, themes, colors, dates and I smile through it, answering where I can, letting the excitement swirl around me.
Normally I’d be totally into it, throwing out suggestions for games, activities, maybe even the menu. This is my zone. I like planning. I like celebrating.
But my attention keeps drifting back to Patrick.
And I know exactly why Brick bothered him so much.
Patrick and I met when we were both just starting our careers. I was neck-deep in residency, drowning in overnight shifts and back-to-back rotations. I barely had time to eat, let alone be in a real relationship.
But the attraction between us was instant. Dangerously instant.
He’d come into the ER and… well. Even though I knew I shouldn’t, I’d said yes, when he asked me out.
It didn’t take long to realize Patrick was a traditional man. He wanted a wife and babies. He wanted a family.
And I wanted, needed, to be a doctor.
So, I tried to break things off. I told him I wasn’t ready for that level of commitment.
And he offered to make us non-exclusive.
At the time, I honestly thought he was just trying to take the pressure off me.
Then I saw him out on a date with someone else… and realized it was exactly what it sounded like, him having his cake and eating it too.
So, I got drunk. And I hooked up with Brick.
Just my luck, Patrick asked me to be exclusive the very next day.
I justified it to myself, technically it wasn’t cheating. But I knew he wouldn’t understand.
So, I buried it.
Except things don’t stay buried when you’re married to a cop.
Especially not a man like Patrick.
Patrick
The night finally ends about an hour later. We file out of the restaurant into the cool air. My parents wait by the valet stand while my siblings and I head toward the parking lot.
I lift Milo into his seat and help him buckle in, his eyelids heavy with exhaustion and too much spaghetti. Lore hugs everyone goodbye. I just wave and get in the car, shutting the door harder than I mean to.
Lore slides into the passenger seat a minute later. We drive out of the lot and immediately hit traffic. Perfect.
Some idiot on a bike cuts me off at the light. I hit the steering wheel. “Unbelievable!”
“Calm down,” Lore says, clutching the seatbelt with one hand.
“I am calm.” My teeth grind together.
She lets out a long, tired sigh. “Why are you being like this?”
“Like what?”
She looks over her shoulder at Milo, makes sure he’s distracted with his little plastic police car, then faces forward and says nothing.
“No,” I whisper, low enough not to disturb him. “What? I’m a little upset after meeting the man my wife screwed while being with me, sorry.”
Her jaw clenches hard. “I wasn’t with you. Remember? We weren’t exclusive. And it’s not like you didn’t date your barrage of women.”
“I didn’t.” The words come out immediately and they’re true.
She laughs, not believing me. “Patrick, I saw you. Going out with women dressed like hookers.”
Realization hits me like a punch.
“They were hookers,” I say flatly. “I was working on a prostitution racket.”
Lore’s mouth drops open. “Oh.”
She sinks back into the seat, staring out the window, as if new information suddenly rearranges old memories.
Wait.
I made detective over that case. The night I busted it, that was the moment everything clicked for me. Getting ahead in the force didn’t mean anything without being able to tell Lore about it, I took it as a sign.
So, I asked her to be mine. For real. No more nonexclusive bullshit.
My voice drops, darker than I intend. “When did you screw him?”
“Patrick…” she whispers.
“When,” I repeat.
She licks her lips, eyes fixed on the blur of headlights outside. “The party we had for celebrating the end of residency.”
I freeze.
Then I laugh.
Not because it’s funny. Because it’s unbelievable.
“The night before I told you I loved you.” It isn’t a question.
“Patrick,” she whispers, tears spilling now.
“You crawled out of his bed and into mine,” I say.
She’s openly sobbing. The sound breaks my heart more than the past did.
“Mommy?” Milo’s small voice whimpers.
Lore clamps down on her cry instantly. “It’s okay, Mil,” she says without looking back.
My hand grips the wheel so tight my knuckles ache. I pull the car over to the shoulder and put it in park.
Pressing the seatbelt release button, I pause with my hand on the door.
“I need some time,” I say.
I can feel her panic spike even without looking at her.
“Patrick, where are you going?”
Without turning back, I say, “Go home.”
And then I start walking.
No destination in mind. No plan. Just the sound of traffic hissing past and my own heartbeat hammering behind my ribs.
I haven’t so much as looked at another woman since I met Lore.
I only offered the non-exclusive bullshit because I didn’t want to break up.
I’ve always been the one doing the chasing in our relationship.
Even when we met.
I’d gone to the ER for my dad that day. He’d had a minor health scare, nothing life-threatening, but enough to get him admitted for observation. And while the doctor was explaining how Dad needed to retire, how his heart couldn’t take the stress anymore, I wasn’t listening.
Not really.
I was staring at the woman standing behind him.
Lorelie Hill. Even with her hair in a messy bun and circles under her eyes, she was the most beautiful woman I’d ever met. No matter how much I tried, I could take my eyes off her.
And God, I felt like a terrible son for it. Who the hell checks out a doctor while his father’s in a hospital bed?
But we’d heard that speech a dozen times. Dad should’ve retired years before, but pride kept him in a job that was slowly killing him.
Still, there was something about that visit. Something about her.
Because for the first time, Dad finally agreed. Finally said he’d put in the paperwork.
I was so relieved I’d practically chased Lore down in the parking lot after her shift.
Not my smartest move, I startled her enough that she looked scared, but she was about to drive away, and I knew I couldn’t let her disappear out of my life.
I knew she was different. I knew she’d be it for me.
And now I can’t get the image out of my head.
While I was being praised for a job well done, while I was realizing Lore was the love of my life, she was in his bed. With him. Under him.
I shove my hands deeper into my pockets and keep walking, the night air biting at my skin.
How the hell am I supposed to get over that?