Page 52 of Nothing Breaks Like A Heart

"I get why you didn't tell me before, but we talked almost every night. Why wouldn't you say, guess what, I had to make a quick trip to Paris? Or why wouldn't you tell me when you got back?"

"I felt bad going without you. We'd talked about making that our first trip together, and I thought you would be disappointed that I'd gone without you."

"Were you ever going to tell me?" I asked. "Or were you going to pretend you'd never been there with your friends?"

"I was going to tell you. It just didn't come up. When I got back, we were in crazy, hectic wedding planning and I didn't think about it."

He seemed sincere, but there were starting to be too many moments where he'd thought something wasn't important enough to tell me about, which made me wonder what else I didn't know.

"Who told you about Paris?" Andrew asked. "Harper?"

"No. She told me Colin was there. She didn't know if you were there, too. Although, she thought Allison was."

"Then who told you I was there? Or should I guess—Ethan Stark?"

"Yes, it was him. He stopped by last night to talk to me about the incident on the trail." That wasn't exactly how it happened, but I didn't feel like getting into the various conversations I'd had with Ethan.

"The incident?" Andrew queried. "Why do you say it like that?"

"Because it doesn't look like my horse was stung by a bee. It looks like someone threw a rock and spooked Sally."

"What are you talking about?"

"The video Tyler posted online. You can see something hitting the horse. It was deliberate, Andrew. Someone threw a rock on purpose. I don't know whether it was to scare me or to hurt me, but I don't think it was a bee."

"Why didn't you tell me this?"

"I saw the video after you left last night."

"And you talked to Stark about it? What's he going to do?"

"Look into it, along with hotel security, I don't know. He's still suspicious of us, Andrew. He thinks it's odd how the two people who barely escaped the hotel fire are now in Victor's inner circle, invited into his private gallery to see his personal collection."

"That's because you work for the company and we're featured in the marketing campaign," Andrew said. "You need to start avoiding this guy. Every time you talk to him you get all worked up about nothing. I don't understand why he makes you doubt everyone else in your life, how he makes you doubt me. For God's sake, we just got married. Didn't your vows mean anything to you? Because they meant something to me. If someone was accusing you of something, I'd be the first one to defend you."

"I have defended you," I said, shocked by his fiery words. "And it's not just you he doubts; it's me, too." That wasn't completely true, but it felt better to say it that way. "I hate that he keeps revealing small details about you that I don't know. I don't want to doubt you. I love you. And I have defended you to Ethan, and then he reveals a detail about you that I didn't know, and it weakens my defense because it makes me look like I don't know you."

"You know me, Lauren. You know what's important. The rest is noise."

"Maybe you need to stop deciding what's important for me to know and be more open."

"Maybe so," he said tightly. "I have to go now. Everyone is waiting for me. I'll see you later."

He was gone before I could say goodbye. I set the phone back on the table. Then I shifted my position on the mattress, ending up on my back, looking at the ceiling, my thoughts a jumbled mess, my emotions all over the place, and the pain in my hip and leg didn't help. It almost felt worse today than it had yesterday. So bad it made me want to cry a little. But as my eyes blurred with tears, I knew I wasn't just crying because of my physical injuries but also because everything with Andrew felt suddenly wrong, and I didn't know what to do about it. I was starting to worry I had married a man I didn't really know. Or maybe I had let Ethan get too far into my head.

Well, there wasn't anything I could do from bed, so I forced myself to get up, taking it slow because every movement was painful. I finally managed to get into a warm shower and stayed there for a long time. Over the next hour, I managed to get dressed and do my hair and makeup, looking far more presentable than I actually felt.

Andrew texted me he'd be back around eleven thirty. Realizing, I still had a half hour to myself, I started to unpack Andrew's bags. It felt like a wifely thing to do. I wasn't spying. I was being helpful.

My mental pep talk didn't really matter as there was nothing more than clothes in Andrew's suitcases. I don't know what I had been expecting. He certainly wasn't hiding a painting in his carry-on. But as I went to hang up Andrew's bomber jacket, something fell out of his pocket, and I stared in surprise at the phone on the ground.

It wasn't the phone he normally used. It looked plain and cheap. I picked it up, my hand suddenly shaky as I stared at the partial text still visible on the screen. It was from someone named Al and read:If you cut me out, you'll be…

I tried to click on the rest of the message, but it asked me for a password, and I didn't know Andrew's password. I tried a few number combinations, like his birthday and mine, but neither worked. Why would it? If he had a second phone, he would make sure it was locked up. He wouldn't want someone to read his private messages.

I sat down on the bed so hard, pain shot up my leg again, but I barely felt it this time. I was numb. Al was probably Allison, and she was angry because she thought Andrew was cutting her out of something.What? What would they be doing together?And it sure felt like the end of her messageyou'll be…was the start of the phrase that had been written on the wall of the bridal suite:You'll be sorry. I'd thought the message was for me, but maybe it was for Andrew.

Looking down at the phone again, I wished there was a way I could get into it, that I could read the rest of that message, that I could see what else was on the phone. Maybe I could ask Ethan. Perhaps he could get into it, but then I'd have to give it to him. And what would happen when Andrew went looking for it?

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