A Winter Wedding(32)

“Did you tell Olivia what you’d done after it was over?”

He rubbed his face. “Didn’t need to. The news that I’d gone home with Noelle spread all over town, and I’m betting she had a hand in that. She wanted people to know—was quite proud of herself for finally being able to...divert my attention,” he said, choosing a euphemism instead of the more vulgar expression that came to mind and probably described the situation better.

“That must’ve been horrible.”

“It was the worst year of my life.”

“So did you apologize to Olivia?”

“Not at first. Once I’d slept with Noelle, I figured I’d ruined any chance I ever had with Olivia. I knew she’d never get beyond it. So, for one desperate weekend, I tried to keep an open mind where Noelle was concerned, tried to convince myself I’d slept with her because I was attracted to her and hadn’t destroyed my life.”

“I can guess how well that worked out.”

He’d soon disliked Noelle so much he could hardly stand to be around her. That was how well it’d worked out. “After only a couple of days, I realized I wasn’t interested. So I tried to extricate myself from the relationship.”

“How’d that go?”

“The whole situation was pathetic,” he admitted. “It was weird how fast my perspective changed. Olivia needed a year or so to experience life somewhere else and build her business, and suddenly that didn’t seem so bad. I realized I was an absolute idiot to have sacrificed my best chance at happiness.”

“You weren’t alone in what you did. Why would Olivia’s sister ever get involved with her boyfriend?”

“You’d have to know her to understand. She’s always been jealous of Olivia, always wanted whatever Olivia had and constantly tried to outdo her. That’s partly why I felt so bad. I’d let her use me as the greatest weapon she could ever hope to find.”

“She finally had a big stick she could use to hit her sister.”

“Exactly. Only she tried to make herself look as innocent as possible by telling her family I’d been secretly coming on to her for years. That she’d been drunk, and I’d caught her at a vulnerable moment.”

“She turned the tables on you!”

“Yes.”

“But surely they didn’t believe her.”

“It was easier for them to believe her lies than to face the truth—that she’d purposely acted to destroy her sister’s happiness. I got the impression her father didn’t completely buy it. But her mother? Probably.”

“You didn’t set the record straight?”

“I couldn’t see any point in arguing over it. I shouldn’t have gone home with her. Besides, of the two of us, I was the only one Olivia could feasibly cut out of her life. Family is family. They’re forever. An old boyfriend on the other hand...”

“She held you more responsible than her own sister?”

“She expected more from me. What Noelle did wasn’t a surprise to her.”

“I’m thinking that knowing her sister the way she must’ve known her, with time, Olivia might’ve been able to get beyond it.”

“Except just when I began to hope that might be the case, Noelle called to tell me she was pregnant.”

“No!”

“Yes.”

Lourdes got up and came over to where he stood. “Was it even your child?”

“I had to assume it was—at least until the baby was born and we could get a paternity test.”

“You said you don’t have any kids. Don’t tell me, after you married her, it turned out the baby belonged to someone else...”

“Who can say? She miscarried at about five months and we separated shortly after.” If she’d really miscarried. He knew there’d been a baby; he’d made her show him the results of her pregnancy test. But what had actually happened to their child remained a mystery to him. Noelle had walked out of the bathroom one day, crying and claiming she was bleeding.

“And now she’s coming around, hoping to get back together?”

“She knows Olivia’s happily married, that I’ll never be with her, so like you said before, until there’s someone else in my life, she’ll probably continue to see me as a possibility.”

“She has tenacity. I’ll give her that.”

“She’s very thick-skinned.”

“Obviously. But what she doesn’t see coming...is me.”

“You?”

“Yes. I’m going to hold your hand through this process, help you find someone who’s everything you want. Someone you’ll fall madly in love with, so madly in love it’ll be as if Olivia never existed.”

Her enthusiasm tempted him to believe it might be possible. “And you think online dating is the way to go.”

“You’ve met everyone who lives in town, haven’t you?”

“Everyone who’s single and anywhere close to my age.”

“Then it’s time to introduce you to new prospects.”

He was still reluctant. “I’d be meeting people who live out of the area.”

“So?”

“So I like it here. I won’t move.”