Page 21 of Sweet Valentine

“I need you to finish,” I say, putting my phone down and ignoring the next two texts that come through, back-to-back.

Noah gets up from the bed and paces my room. “At first, things with Amy were good. We got along, we started talking about starting a family and moving farther away from her parents. I thought I was in love.”

“But you weren’t?” I ask, loving the soft look he gives me from across the room.

“Sweetheart, I didn’t know what love was until I met you.” My chest compresses, and my heart makes a little flutter in my chest. He doesn’t mean love-love, does he?

His small smirk tells me I’ll find out soon enough. Still, he continues. “I have always wanted a family, a big one since I was an only child who grew up wanting what my parents had. So, when I approached Amy about the idea of kids, I was surprised that she was all for it.” I tilt my head to the side in confusion, and he smiles. “Amy is a sorority girl who never left the sorority. She was into lunch dates, parties, and the next big fundraiser. So, I was surprised that she was ready to have a family. But when she told me we could start trying, I was thrilled.” I can feel the vodka from last night trying to make another appearance, but I push it down, waiting for Noah to continue. His hands make their way into his hair as he sits on the foot of the bed once again.

“I never should have trusted her. I spent years of my life attached to a woman that was more preoccupied with how much money we made and how good we looked in the papers than what was going on in our own home.” I look at him, confused because I still have no idea how he went from being so in love with her to hating her. It makes no sense. “We had been having problems for a while, fighting every night, not seeing each other for days at a time, but the one thing that always brought us back together was the need to have a family. So, we spent months trying, and when nothing happened, she went to a clinic to see if anything was wrong. When she came back and said everything was fine, I thought maybe we just needed to keep trying. Until I found birth control pills in her purse.”

I suck in a breath as everything falls into place...

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

The look on her face tells me everything.

“Please tell me she was not taking the pill the whole time.” Val’s eyes are hard, her posture rigid as I nod my head. All the emotions on her face right now are the ones I went through years ago. And, to be honest, it’s kind of amazing to see those feelings validated because Amy’s family never seemed to get what the big deal was.

“Are you kidding me?” she yells as she sits forward and crawls over to me. “You’re telling me that she lied to you for God knows how long, told you she wanted kids when in actuality, she never did?”

Her scent surrounds me as I close my eyes, hoping to God I can fix us because the idea of Amy ruining this dream, too, sends me into a panic. “At first, she denied it. But when I found text messages from her friends asking if I still thought we were trying for a baby…I realized the truth.”

“No wonder you asked me the kid question,” she mutters almost to herself. When her head snaps up, and her eyes meet mine, I know she didn’t actually mean to say that out loud.

“What did she say to you?” I ask, my knuckles white from where I’m gripping the comforter, my imagination running wild.

“You really want to know?” she asks, her voice small. I nod as her eyes turn soft. I can sense the change in the air, she’s less tense, more open to me right now than she was when I walked in. “She walked into the shop during lunch. It was my slow time, so I was having some food, getting ready for the afternoon rush.” I smile at the image of her sitting at one of those tables, looking at her phone. It’s a simple picture in my head, nothing special about it, but to me, the mundane parts of her life are some of the most vibrant ones in mine. “I heard the bell go off as the front door opened.” I chuckle as she mutters a curse at Mandy for installing it before she continues. “And then she walked in. She reminded me of everything Chris wanted me to be that I wasn’t.” That confession stops me in my tracks.

“What do you mean, everything you weren’t?”

“When Chris and I were together, he wanted a wife that he could show off. One that went to events with him, talked to his business partners’ wives. All he ever wanted me to do was smile and wave, and that was never me.” I shudder at the thought of her doing that, knowing it would ruin her slowly from the inside out. “So, when your wife…”

“Ex-wife,” I clarify, needing her to get it into her head that Amy and I are over—for good.

“Fine, when your ex-wife walked in, it just took me back to that feeling and how inferior I felt for loving my job and having this dream.”

“You should never feel ashamed of your dream. What you’ve created here is incredible and so needed in this town. You are an amazing woman, Val, I hope you know that.” The blush that creeps up her cheeks makes me remember how it looks when I’m deep inside her.

“I do now. But back then? All I wanted was for someone to love me like my parents loved each other. I thought I found that with Chris.” Just hearing his name makes me want to punch something.

“What did she say to you, sweetheart?” I ask again, hoping it’s something I can fix, here and now.

“It was nothing bad, really.” There’s hesitation in her eyes, and I can’t take it anymore. I crawl closer to her and take her hand in mine, bringing it to my lips. The shuddering breath she takes tells me that she’s just as affected by me as I am by her. “She told me she loved my shop, that her…husband told her how amazing my desserts were.” She tries to pull away, but I keep a firm grasp on her fingers. “Then she bought a butter tart and said they were her husband’s favorite.” Clearly, that bitch has been watching me, or more accurately, had someone else watching me since she’s probably too busy to do it herself.

“What else?” I ask, knowing there’s more, just not knowing exactly what it is.

“I asked who her husband was so I could thank him when I saw him next, and she said your name.”

Fuck. She walked right into it and didn’t even realize it. Damn, Amy is sneakier than I thought.

“After that, she left, and I was left standing there.” Her tears do me in. My heart breaks as each tear falls from her gorgeous eyes and stains her cheeks.

“Sweetheart, you have to know that Amy and I were over a long time ago. She’s just doing this to get back at me because she finally realizes that I’ve moved on. I’m happy now.” Her sad eyes meet mine, questioning whether what I said was true. “I am happier now, with you, than I ever was with Amy. No part of our marriage made me feel how I do when I’m with you.”

“How long ago did you two divorce?” she asks, and I give her a small smile. I knew this question was coming, and have no issue telling her exactly what she wants to know.

“Two years ago.”

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