28. Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Eight
VIOLET
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. There had to be a logical explanation. I knew there was. This couldn’t be happening to me twice.
But even as I was convincing myself he had a good reason for hugging a blonde woman I didn’t recognize, I turned and walked away. He hadn’t seen me yet, and I wasn’t ready to find out who she was.
Was I overreacting? Totally. Absolutely. One hundred percent.
But my heart wasn’t getting that memo. It was too afraid of being crushed like a bug again.
By the time I arrived back at the station, I had already gone through multiple scenarios to explain what I saw.
Maybe she was his sister-in-law. God, I would be the worst girlfriend in the history of girlfriends if he found out something happened to his brother, and I’d resorted to jealousy first. But why wouldn’t she call?
Would she drive all this way without a phone call?
And wouldn’t he have told me she was on her way?
Then I thought maybe it was his ex. She realized how much of an idiot she’d been and she wanted him back.
Is that what he wanted? They had years together, we’d only had a month.
Even though I was sure the heartbreak would be worse than I’d experienced with James, I couldn’t blame him if he chose her.
But I had no way of knowing if it was his ex.
Maybe some deep diving on social media would help me figure it out.
Great. Now I was turning into a Facebook stalker.
I plopped down in my chair and leaned back, closing my eyes. I was officially ridiculous. Yup. Certifiable.
I should just walk back down there. But what would I say? I saw you with some blonde and then ran away.
Jesus. That would go over great.
I blew out a breath and glared at Dylan as he stepped into my office. I swear this better be important, and not dog shit again or some stupid old people feud, because I was not in the mood.
“Uh, I can come back.” He took a step back, glancing quickly back over his shoulder.
I sighed. “It’s fine.”
“Oh boy.” He shook his head. “Fine never means fine.”
He wasn’t wrong. I sighed. “What do you need?”
“Some kids threw fireworks in someone’s mailbox last night. Patrol didn’t call it in. They didn’t really see anything other than a bunch of mailbox pieces. But we should keep an eye on it if they keep it up.” He shifted his weight. “Just wanted to put it on your radar.”
What in the world? I thought kids were all about playing video games and watching people play video games on YouTube, not starting fires and blowing up mailboxes.
“You good?” Dylan studied me.
I nodded. “I will be.” As soon as I figured out what the hell I should do.
I sat there staring at the doorway long after Dylan walked away. I tried to focus back on watching the footage, but I was only half paying attention again when my phone chimed and I lunged for it.
Hattie: Evelyn was just in here running her mouth about seeing your new man checking into the bed and breakfast with some blonde. I wanted to throat punch her. But why would Seth be checking into a bed and breakfast with some blonde?
Evelyn worked the front desk at the B&B, and I couldn’t see why she would make that up. Oh God. But why would he need to check into a bed and breakfast? He had his cabin up on the mountain he was renting.
Dylan appeared again. “Um, Seth is here asking for you. Is that okay? Or should I send him away?”
Regardless of the details, I had a feeling I really didn’t want to have this conversation. But whatever it was, I couldn’t avoid it forever. Should just get it out of the way. “No, everything’s fine. Tell him I’ll be out in a minute.”
“If you say so.” He shook his head and walked away.
I took a few deep breaths before standing and heading that way too.
SETH
“I don’t know what you did”—Dylan eyed me suspiciously—“but you are in so much trouble. She said everything’s fine.”
What the hell was he rambling about? I hadn’t done anything. And what did Violet say was fine?
My gaze locked on her as she stepped into the lobby. Shit. Maybe Dylan was right. She definitely looked pissed. But it couldn’t be at me.
“You okay?” I asked.
“Yup.” She crossed her arms over her chest. Her usual smile nowhere to be found.
I had no idea what I could have done to piss her off. It couldn’t have anything to do with Lucy. No one knew who she was, and the only person I had told was Owen. With his history, he was sympathetic and had no problem with me taking the rest of the day off.
“Can we talk?” I tried again as I observed her rigid posture and lips pressed into a tight line.
“Yeah.” The simple word held a definite bite to it.
Maybe she was having a shitty day. I hated that I had to give her bad news on top of it, but I also couldn’t wait. She needed to know.
“Um, not here?” I glanced around the lobby of the police station. “Can we go somewhere? Maybe the park?” I wasn’t sure how she would react, but regardless, I didn’t want to have this conversation here with so many prying eyes. “We can sit on a bench and talk.”
She sighed. “Sure.”
She was so quiet as we walked, and I didn’t know what to do with that. She was rarely this kind of eerie silent. “You sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine.”
Oh boy. There was that fine again. “Maybe Dylan was right,” I mumbled.
“What?” She glared over at me.
I shook my head. Didn’t need to piss her off even more. “Nothing, never mind.”
I itched to reach out and entwine our fingers as we made our way across the street to the park, but I wasn’t sure she wanted that at the moment. Had something happened with the arson case? Whatever it was, she obviously didn’t want to talk about it, so I wasn’t going to push.
I waved at a bench, and once she sat down, I took the seat next to her.
“So, my ex showed up today.” Just rip the Band-Aid off, no need to sugarcoat it.
“She’s pregnant.” Violet studied me, her lips parted slightly, but other than that she barely reacted.
“She wanted to stay with me, but I told her no and checked her into the B&B.”
Her eyes widened and she sucked in a breath. “You didn’t sleep with her?”
That was a weird question, and not one I knew how to answer. I cocked a brow at Violet. “Five months ago, when we were together, I did.”
“No, I meant today. You didn’t sleep with her today?”
“Of course not.” What the hell? “Why would you think that?”
“Hattie texted me… Evelyn told her she checked you and some blonde into the B&B.”
“Fucking small-town gossip,” I mumbled, turning to face her. “Violet, the only person I want to sleep with is you.”
“So, you’re not breaking up with me?”
Jesus. That was the last thing I wanted to do. “No.” I sighed. “But I was worried you’d break up with me.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m having a baby with someone else.”
She waved that off. “Yeah, but that happened a while ago.”
I wasn’t about to argue with her train of thought. If she could get past this and we could figure out how to make it all work, who was I to tell her otherwise?
I wrapped one arm around her shoulders and brought her against my chest.
Multiple scenarios ran through my head. I wasn’t sure how this would all work out, and I was probably getting ahead of myself, but I knew one thing: if my kid was in Charlotte, then I needed to be there too.