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“Your momisamazing.”
His grin is wide. Proud. “The best.” But the happiness that was so clear on his face disappears in a heartbeat when a dark cloud seems to fall over his face. “So when I didn’t answer his ‘call,’ he took it personally. Mom got upset because he was back to his conditional love ways and my grandmother had passed already, so she wasn’t there to soften him up this time around. So we fought. We stopped talking. And I was kind of adrift already—you already know that—not really knowing what I wanted to do in life. So I took up a teaching job in my hometown and just… did that for a while.”
“What does this have to do with anything? With you lying to me and?—”
“Omitting.” He takes a deep breath. “It has to do with it because after several years of not talking to my grandfather, I had to go back to him, tail between my legs, and ask for help. After I crashed my car and paralyzed my mother, leaving her with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of medical debt and a lifetime of additional health problems, I went to him for money.
“Mom was too angry to do it herself, so I did it. I went to him for money forhis daughterand he flat out refused to give it to me. Told me it was my responsibility to figure it out. And you know what? I don’t blame him. It’s my fault she’s in the wheelchair. It’s my fault I’m in this situation. And if you tell me to fuck off, I’ll hate it, and I’ll hate myself even more than I already do for the rest of my life, but I’ll understand because I know it was all my doing.”
“Are you trying to make me feel sorry for you? Because, yes, it makes me sad for your mother, but what you did to me and us?—”
“No. No, I’m being serious. I’m owning up to my mistakes. I’ve known for a long time that this day could come. That itwouldcome. I just… My grandfather promised he’d give me the money for my mother under the condition that I work for him for five years minimum. It was a starting bonus, the already high salary, and at the end of the five years, another massive bonus. He also specified that because Stevenson was a public company, but family-run, it might be best for people to start referring to me professionally as Liam Stevenson, as well. ‘To keep the tradition alive,’ he’d say. ‘For the shareholders.’” Will has the decency to roll his eyes in disgust. “Obviously, it was all about appearances for him. Always has been. And I guess he was hoping I’d fall for the high salary, perks, and promotions he kept giving me. Not that I wasn’t good at my job, but it was very evident that it was all a way to train me to take over. To entice me. To save face after ‘losing’ his daughter to a ‘commoner.’
“But I never wanted to stay in the job. I saved every penny I could after helping pay off some of my mom’s bills just in case she ever needs more. With the exception of Ginger’s medical bill, I have not spent a single dime of that money on anything for myself because I feel like it isn’t mine. So no, Bridget. This wasn’t about corporate espionage. This wasn’t about gaining secrets in order to make your job more difficult by having the upper hand in negotiations. This wasn’t about tricking you to get laid. But I did keep things from you because you just assumed that I was a middle manager, and it didn’t seem relevant to clarify at the time—we were just strangers on the internet. And once things started changing for us, we had already talked about how much you hated upper management, specifically my finance team—run byme—for making your job impossible. So what was I to do? I had only a few months left of obligation to my grandfather and didn’t want to mess that up and lose out on the bonus he promised—I had to stay for my mom. I also didn’t want to mess things up with you. And yes, I was a coward. But I was always going to tell you. After all this was over, after I had quit and finished up this role, I was going to tell you.”
“You…Youpaid Ginger’s vet bill?” I ask in a whisper. My brain is overloaded with information, but this is what stands out from everything he just told me.
He sighs, exhausted. “Yeah. Yes. I had to. It was over nine grand and just…”
Nine grand??
“It wasn’t Declan?”
His eyes tighten. “Dr. Sloane. And no. It wasn’t him. It was me. That errand I had to run that morning… It was to go back down to the animal hospital and pay off the bill. I only paid off part of the bill to make it believable. Left those couple hundred for you to pay. Then I spoke to the office and begged them not to say anything and?—”
I scoff, cold and furious. It completely throws Will off, has him physically recoiling as much as he can in his seat.
“Do you see how incredibly manipulative you’ve been? All the lies and just… the controlling ways in which you’ve behaved over the last few months?”
“Bridget, no. I wasn’t trying to manipulate you by?—”
“Lying to me about who you are. Lying to me about the vet bill. Which, yes, isincrediblygenerous of you, and I’ll find a way to pay you back eventually, but you should’ve told me and?—”
“I never lied! And you would’ve never let me pay if I’d offered and?—”
“Because it would’ve revealed who you were, right? That’s mostly why you didn’t want to tell me. Because by picking up a nine-thousand dollar bill you’d have to reveal that you were working at the executive level, making a shit ton of money.”
“Bridget, I didn’t do it to manipulate you. I did it because I lo?—.”
I suck in a breath. There’s no way I can keep the tears at bay any longer. They streak freely down my cheek, warm and wet.
“Don’t. Don’t you even dare say it.” It’s like lightning striking a tree right down the middle—my heart has been stricken and split in two—raging, burning. “Maybe your intentions were good, but your actions…” I shake my head. “I get why it didn’t matter as much when we first met virtually, but things changed quickly. You should’ve come clean then. And in not doing so, you managed to blow up our entire relationship. I feel like I’ve been tricked into falling for you when I have never been more open and honest with anyone in my entire life.”
“I never lied about who I was—not to my core. I omitteddetails?—”
I scoff. “Details!”
“Yes, details! Because what I do for a living is just a fucking detail. It’s not who I fucking am. A job isn’t an identity. I took you to my mother’s house. I showed you my childhood. I’ve shown you my heart, Bridget. You fucking know who Iam.” He takes my good hand and presses it to his chest. Beneath my palm, I can feel his rapid heartbeat, racing to catch up with the madness. “We talked endlessly about everything from goat videos to our biggest traumas. You know everything there is to know about me. And I love you and everything that you are. This isn’t some silly fling for me. This is it. You areit. It can’t end because of something so dumb.”
It’s the wrong thing to say, and based on the way he winces, Will realizes it, too.
“You think this is dumb? After all the times I’ve been lied to and used by the people I’ve loved? You think it’s irrational of me to be angry at this?”
He exhales, dropping his face in his hands. “I didn’t mean that. Your feelings are valid, and I’m definitely a dick, but I did it out of love. Because I was scared. Can’t you just see that I did this because I’m in love with you—so fucking in love, Bridge—and I would’ve done anything to not lose you?”
I take a deep breath and squeeze my eyes shut, pressing myself against the back of the seat. This is so hard. And it hurts. It hurts more than any other betrayal. Because I am so goddamn in love with him. With the Will I thought I knew.
I feel Will’s large, warm hand come over my thigh. “Baby, please. Tell me you’re willing to work this out. Tell me this isn’t it.” His voice breaks. “You see the silver lining—the positive—in everything. In the worst situations, you keep your head held high. You’re able to keep moving. Is there any way you can do the same here, so we can move past this? I’m not saying it won’t take work and time and?—”
