Page 117 of Changing Tides

He grabbed my hand before I reared back again.

“Stop it. You’re being ridiculous.”

“I’m being ridiculous? How do you accidentally sleep with another woman? Did you trip in the office after an emergency call, fall on top of her, and your penis slipped out of your scrubs and into her vagina?”

“Of course not. I messed up. I made a mistake.”

“A mistake. Oh, silly me. A mistake. That’s no big deal. Except for the oopsie you left behind in her uterus.”

He sighed, and his head fell into his hands. “She said she was protected.”

“And you believed her? You’re a doctor, for fuck’s sake. How many times have you told a young man to make sure he protects himself?”

“I know. It was stupid. But you do stupid things when you’re in love.”

“Love?!”

He brought his eyes to mine.

“I thought it was an accident, a mistake?”

“It was. I didn’t mean to fall for someone else.”

I stood and started walking back toward the kitchen island. All of a sudden, I was dizzy, and I felt like I might throw up. I was angry at his indiscretion. I expected him to deny it or cry and beg for forgiveness—not profess his love for another woman.

He stood and reached for me, and I swatted at his hands.

Pain slid down my spine as reality sunk in.

“Get out!” I cried.

“Taeli.”

“I said, get out!” I screamed.

“We have to talk about this.”

“No. I don’t feel like talking. I want you to leave.”

He raised his hands in surrender. “That’s fine. I’ll go. For now.”

A horn blows from the car behind me and shakes me from my memory. I give him a curt wave and gun it through the traffic light that apparently turned green while I was reminiscing.

“Mom!”

Caleb’s irritated voice comes from the backseat, and I look in the mirror to see him scowling at me.

“Sorry, buddy.”

“Are we close?” he asks.

I nod toward the sign up ahead that reads,Welcome to Balsam Ridge. One thousand two hundred fifty-seven smiling faces and one old grump.

His eyes skim the road sign.

“Is there really an old grump?” he asks.

“Oh, yeah, and you’ll know when you meet him,” I answer, hoping to get a smile or a grin or even a grunt from him.

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