Page 74 of Closing the Distance

“You should’ve told me.”

His shoulders stay hunched. “I know,” he says, his voice cracking.

“I’m still pissed at you.” I can’t let go of my anger that easily, even if I have a better understanding that the driving factor behind his actions had nothing to do with Lexi at all—but she still got hurt in all this.

“You have every right to be.” When he looks up at me, his eyes are pleading. “I want to help fix this, Ty.”

“Why did you give it to the press?” It would be much easier for him to fix things if he hadn’t thrown her entire life out there for the whole world to see.

“I gave it to a friend of mine—someone I thought was a friend because she’d always written complimentary pieces about me. I guess I thought it was the only way for you to see what I’d learned. I knew you would likely blow me off if I tried to give it to you, but you couldn’t ignore the press.”

I lean forward. “Did you ever think about what this would do to Lexi?”

“Honestly, no. In my head, she was on the same level as Heather. I know that makes me a shitty person, but the only one I cared about was you.”

“And you thought I deserved to find out that information by having it splashed all over the media where I couldn’t control it?”

“It was stupid.”

My voice rises. “No fucking shit, Tan. It was the stupidest thing you’ve ever done.”

“It made sense in the moment,” he replies, getting defensive. “How else was I supposed to get your attention?”

“I would’ve rather you showed up at my front door with the file than handing it off to a journalist.”

We lock gazes, tension and animosity growing thick in the air.

He’s the first to break the silence. “I don’t know what else to say, Ty.”

“How are you going to fix it?”

“I don’t know,” he says.

“Not good enough. We’re not leaving this room until there’s a plan in place. Lexi’s dealt with enough shit in her life; I won’t be cause for any more of it. This is getting fixed.”

His face softens. “You really love her, don’t you?”

“She’s going to be my wife, Tan. I want to give her the family she always wanted, and I can’t do that if we can’t fix this for her. Not only will it affect her job, but I’ll never forgive you as long as this is hanging over her head, which will mean no family holidays like we had growing up.”

He swallows thickly and nods his head. “Okay, then let’s figure out how to fix this.”

FORTY-THREE

Lana pulled a fast one on us. She was so sweet and innocent that first week, Ty and I were convinced we got lucky with a great sleeper. Apparently, she was just waiting until we’d let our guards down to really lose her shit.

I don’t think I’ve slept more than two hours at a time—if that—in over a week. I’ve never been so exhausted in my entire life.

There’s a knock on the door just as I finish pumping the excess milk Lana didn’t finish before she passed out. I remove the flange from my breast and then cover up. “Come on in,” I say, trying to keep my voice mostly normal so as not to startle Lana and wake her up.

The door opens and Ty’s mom steps in. “Hey, honey, just checking on you.”

I give her a soft, tired smile. “I’m hanging in there.”

Sympathy fills her face. “You look exhausted.”

“Gee, thanks,” I mutter. I know she doesn’t mean it badly, but I feel gross and tired, so I’m sure I look like I got hit by a bus.

She glances at the two filled bottles of milk I was able to pump. “Why don’t you give those to me, and I’ll put them in the fridge and take over watching Lana so you can get some rest. A decent nap will work wonders.”

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