Chapter Three
Not one notification. Twenty-seven.
They arrived in a wave. Buzzing, buzzing, buzzing against the mattress on the floor, and Laina reached for the phone with her eyes still half-closed.
She was expecting an alarm she didn't remember setting or a text from Iris about the staff meeting or, in the worst and most treacherous part of her brain, a voicemail from a number she was trying not to call back.
She got none of those things.
Texts from numbers she didn't recognize, and seven missed calls from her...mother?
For someone like her mother, that was practically like the whole country going Code Red or something, and it was this that had her finally sitting up with a jerk.
Something was clearly wrong, and that was when she saw the push alert at the very top of her screen.
It was programmed to notify her every time Troy’s name popped up on the news.
She should’ve deleted it the moment she had left him, but she had forgotten, and that turned out to be a good thing because how else would she have known about this?
WAYMAKERS MVP TROY BARRYMORE'S SECRET WIFE: EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS
Laina could feel herself going pale as she looked through the photos. There was one of her walking into school, and of course they had to choose that photo where her hair was at its most stubborn and messiest.
The other photos weren’t any better. There was one photo where her bag was sliding off one shoulder, another photo where they had caught her mid-blink.
And then there were the comments. She already knew it was the worst idea ever to read through them, but she still found herself scrolling down with shaking fingers—
that's his wife? lol
she looks like a substitute teacher
I'd keep her secret too
Laina knew she really should stop scrolling, but...
she's cute but like... school teacher cute
barrymore could have had anyone and he chose HER? secretly?? for SEVEN YEARS???
honestly kind of sad. he kept her hidden for a reason
Laina squeezed her eyes shut, but of course this wasn’t enough. Life had never been so easy that one just had to close their eyes, and the memories would simply go away, and consequences could be evaded.
Help me.
Because she knew to keep reading these things would make her forget who she was and start seeing herself the way they saw her.
Please.
And so she found herself praying yet again—
Help me.
—until strength infused her heart, and she was able to close the news app and delete it.
Thank You.
But that was just one battle won, and the thought alone was overwhelming, tempting Laina to just give up.
Everyone knew.
When she was once Troy Barrymore’s biggest secret—
Everyone!
The whole world now knew she was his wife—
Riiiing.
She stared at her phone as it started buzzing. She knew it was just a phone, but fear and pain had her looking at her phone like it could transform into a snake and bite her at any moment.
Riiing.
She knew she should answer it. Or even just check if it was her mother, whose calls were now perfectly understandable. Her mother who hadn’t known her own daughter had been married for seven years.
She knew what she had to do.
But—
“Laina?”
Was she hearing things?
Or was that...
Was that really Troy?
“Laina, I know you’re there. Will you open the—”
Troy hadn’t even finished speaking when the door flew open, and his wife had thrown herself in his arms. Crying. And shaking. Because of him.
His arms closed around her tightly.
“I’m sorry, Laina. I’m sorry. I’m here now.”
Everything after that was a blur. She was barely aware of Troy leading her out of the apartment, and as the reporters converged around them, Laina heard him say something she never thought she’d hear him say.
“Please make way for my wife.”
My wife.
Troy had called her...his wife.
THE SILENCE INSIDE his limo was painful. The things he had to say and apologize for seemed to be growing with every day that passed. It almost felt as if life itself was against Laina giving Troy a second chance.
For the first few minutes, she sat with her back straight, her gaze turned away from him. But what gave her tension away was how her hand had balled into a fist on her lap. And finally, it was Laina who broke the silence between them, her words coming out jerkily.
“Where are we going?”
“Home.”
It was just one word. But that word was everything she feared...and found comfort in at the same time.
Troy only had to look at his wife’s face, and he knew. Of course he knew. He might not have been the perfect husband, and he might have had hurt her in ways he hadn’t known all these years...
But because he was her husband...
There were things he had always known and would always know.
And this was one of them.
The look on her face...that told him she was only with Troy because she had no other choice.
“The kids!”
She had suddenly turned to him as she gasped the words out.
“I have class today, and—”
“You can’t go back to work.”
“I know that, but I have to—”
“Give them a call.”
Laina shook her head. “That’s not good enough. I owe it to them to explain in person. Please.”
“If we go there, you’ll be drawing more attention to your workplace.”
A smile wobbled over her lips. “We both know how rabid the press is when it comes to you.”
Troy’s lips pressed together in a straight line. She was unfortunately correct. The moment that article about her went live, the press would have dug out everything they could find about her, and that definitely included her workplace.
“We’ll go there...on one condition.”
Her eyes widened when she heard what that condition was. “A-Are you sure?”
“You can face the press another time, but not now. Do we have a deal?”
She nodded.
Troy turned to Marlon, but his driver was already turning the car around to take the detour. Marlon, who had been driving for Troy since his rookie year, and after that, for Laina as well.
His gaze met Marlon’s through the rearview mirror.
Don’t mess up, boss.
The advice stung, but it wasn’t like his driver was saying anything that wasn’t true.
This was Troy’s last chance to win his wife back.
Laina had fallen asleep somewhere around the third intersection, her head drifting toward the window, her hand still curled in a fist on her lap even in sleep. Troy watched her for a long time. The mascara she had cried off had left faint shadows under her eyes.
She was asleep by the time Marlon drove up to her workplace. As expected, another group of reporters was already there, and they tried to swarm around him like locusts. Tried being the operative word, but they failed instead, since Burton and his team were already here.
Troy didn’t like traveling around with security, but the moment his wife’s safety was compromised, his wants had immediately ceased to matter.
Burton’s team—a dozen of big guys in dark suits and shades—barricaded the press from each side.
“What’s the plan?” Burton asked.
“I need to talk to the school about my wife taking an indefinite leave,” he said under his breath. “In the meantime, I want you to have another team guarding my wife. She’s in the car. I don’t want anyone to come close enough to take a photo of her.”
Burton nodded. “On it.”
Troy stepped inside the hallway...and found both kids and faculty staring at him in shock.
“A-Are y-you T-Troy B-Barrymore?”
The talk lasted just about thirty minutes. The school principal, a man in his early fifties and was, fortunately, a fan of the Waymakers, was very understanding and even reassured Troy that his wife would be welcomed back to work, once things had calmed down.
Her fellow teachers had only the nicest things to say about Laina, and so did her students. He was also invited to take a look at her classroom, and he found himself saying yes to this...even though he had a feeling the sight of it would only hurt.
And he was right.
In the past seven years, this room had been his wife’s domain.
Bright-colored walls. A bulletin board with an assortment of portraits and artworks pinned up with animal-head thumbtacks.
No one had to tell him that this was a place where the purest of joy came to life. He only had to be in it to feel it.
And that was how his wife had always been.
Until the day he had made her walk out on their marriage.
SHE WAS HOME AGAIN.
Home.
And it was just so, so hard to believe.
Wasn’t it just days ago that she had walked out of this place, thinking that would be the last time she’d see it?
And yet here she was, back where she first started, and this time, she didn’t even have her suitcase with her.
She turned around to face Troy...and it just hurt.
Being back home with him...
It just hurt for some reason.
“Separate rooms,” she managed to whisper.
“Whatever you want.” His voice was taut. “Consider it done.”
Laina wanted to think he was being considerate...but what if he was only saying yes because he had once again changed his mind about her? He might have wanted Laina back when he visited her apartment, but now that the secret of their marriage was out?
Maybe he had once again changed his mind about her, now that the world knew someone like her was his wife?
“Laina?”
Troy’s gaze narrowed at the way his wife was suddenly avoiding his gaze.
“What’s w-wrong?”
“Sorry, I was just...” She knew she wouldn’t be so obvious if she could just make herself meet his gaze. “I’m sorry. Which room are you giving me?” But she just couldn’t do it.
“Do you have any preferences?”
“Um, the one at the end of the hallway.”
“Of course.”
She might as well have said he wanted the room farthest from the master’s.
“I’ll go ahead if that’s okay.”
“Whatever you want, Laina. I mean it.”
“Right.”
Troy watched her hurry down the hallway while still avoiding his gaze. The door closed behind her a moment later, and yet...
It was enough.
Knowing that she was back home with him...
And he was still alone in the same room that they once shared...
Just having his wife back with him...
It was enough to give him hope.