Page 7 of This Is Why

LEXI

The lookon Tyler’s face tells me that he sees himself in Gabe’s features as clearly as I do. “We should talk,” Isay.

“You think?” His eyes lock on mine, seething with outrage. “Seems to me we should have talked, oh, I don’t know, five to six yearsago?”

Gabe shifts in my lap, aware of the sudden tension and desperate as always to make me feel better. I smile sweetly at Tyler in an attempt to ease Gabe’s mind. “Probably. But you were gone. So, we didn’t.”

Tyler’s gaze flits to Gabe and now he’s smiling just as sweetly as I am. “Right. Gone. You mean that time I got sent to Afghanistan to defend life and liberty for the people of this country.” The contrast between his words and the look on his face is frightening.

Michelle stands quickly. “Okay, then. Gabe? Do you want to come with me and Claire and Granny Carmichael? I think there’s a game we all wanted to play together. Right David? Colton? Liam?” She widens her eyes at the people gathered at the table until they understand what she’s gettingat.

There’s a flurry of activity as people stand in confusion, muttering lame excuses, eager to be anywhere but here as soon as they can. When the chairs are empty and the table is covered with discarded glasses, napkins, and champagne flutes, Tyler lets out a long breath.

“I have a son?” His voice cracks and his face breaks under the weight of more emotions than I canname.

I nod. “You have ason.”

Tyler blinks several times, rapidly. His breath quickens. He starts to say something and then stops. He lifts his hands, as if in a question and then drops them to his lap. “I have a son?” His words are quiet and desperate.

“His name is Gabe. Gabriel Tyler Stills.” I’m afraid Gabe’s middle name is a flashing sign that puts my infatuation with Ty out on display. Somewhere deeper in the reception hall, someone laughs too loudly and a new song blasts over the speakers.

Ty covers his face with his hands and then runs them up into his close-cropped hair, looking up at me through his eyebrows. He shakes his head and closes his eyes, licking his lips as he drops his hands into his lap. “Don’t you think this is something I should know about by now?” he asks, echoing Bailey’s sentiment from earlier.

“Do you mind if we go somewhere more private, please?” I start to reach for him but let my hand drop to my lap, unsure if he wants me to touch him or not. “I really want to talk about this with you but I think it would be easier if we didn’t have to shout to be heard.”

“Sure. Of course.” Sarcasm drips from his words. He stands and gestures towards the exit. “Please. By all means. After you. I wouldn’t dare inconvenience you by making you discuss something this important and life-changing in front of a bunch of people who have no goddamned right to be part of the conversation.” He bites off the end of the sentence before his lips form a tight line and his eyes go hard, glittering in the low light.

I recoil as if he slapped me as guilt twists in my stomach. Of all the ways he could have found out about Gabe, doing it at a table surrounded by people—some of them near strangers—is one of the worst. Tyler lifts his chin and does a neat about face before he strides away, his shoulders square and his back straight. I lurch out of my chair and follow him, struggling to keep up in my tight dress and high heels.

He strikes the front door with both hands, it flies open, and he marches outside. By the time I make it out into the warm June night, he’s pacing and muttering to himself. I stop a few feet away and eye him, uncertain how to best proceed. He stops and looks at me so intently, with so much passion and ferocity and hurt in his gaze, I feel like I’m in freefall.

“Your lipstick is different,” he says. The rage that simmered in his voice just a few moments ago isgone.

“What?” I take a step closer.

He gestures towards me. “Your lipstick. It was cherry-red the day I metyou.”

“You rememberthat?”

“I remember everything.”

His words take my breath away and suddenly, I’m the one pacing. “Do you know how many Tyler Reeds there are in the world? There are three within a fifty-mile radius of Brookside. I didn’t know anything about you other than your name, the fact that you grew up here, and how you made me feel that day. How was I supposed to find you when you disappeared?”

“My sister still lives here. She could have told you where Iwas.”

“And how was I supposed to know you had a sister? How was I supposed to know anything? All I knew was that when I woke up that morning, after a day of what felt like something real, something important, you were gone. If you weren’t interested in sticking around for me, then why in hell would you want to stick around for a baby you probably didn’t evenwant?”

He steps towards me. “Alexa—”

“Lexi.”

“Right. Sorry. You’ve been Alexa in my head all these years.” He turns away. “I’m a Marine. I got word I was being mobilized. Got the orders that night and needed to be on the next plane out of Florida. I couldn’t tell you anything about where I was going and I didn’t want to wake you. I explained that in thenote—”

“The note? There wasn’t a note. And believe me, I looked.” I lower my voice as a couple lurches through the front doors. She wobbles on her heels and clutches his arm for support while he staggers a few steps off the edge of the sidewalk.

Of course Ty is going to try and make himself look decent with a bullshit story about a note that wasn’t there. I was so distraught that morning; I tore my hotel room to shreds, looking for anything that might explain where he went. I couldn’t believe he would just leave without saying anything. Couldn’t process the fact that I was the only one feeling the connection all day. I felt like a fool, realizing that the chemistry was one-sided and while I thought I was falling into something magical, he was busy playing the poor dumb girl he found alone on the beach.

Ty takes a step towards me. “I left you a note on the bedside table. Right next to your phone, where I was certain you’d seeit.”

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