from where he was looming over Tom who stumbled to his feet and bolted to his car, peeling out of the gas station parking lot in a showy circle.
“Like that stupid Porsche can restore his manhood. What a prick.” Rose sneered.
“Are you—?” I addressed Violet. For some reason I was hesitant to approach her.
“Yes. I am.”
My head jerked back on my neck in hurt surprise. “But you’re here without me?”
“Let’s, um—let’s go get some breakfast burritos,” Rose suggested. “They need to talk.” Everyone stood there gaping. “Come on, damn it. I need a breakfast burrito and a cherry slushy. I’m stressing hard, Trevor. Feed me.” That did it. Rose led the way to the Stop and Go, while Cade moved the SUV to their parking lot.
I led Violet to the bus stop bench on the sidewalk to talk. “Why didn’t you call me? I would have come with you. Are you okay? I—” I was hurt. It killed me that she would go to a doctor and not include me. Tom’s paternity accusation flew across my mind and I quickly rejected it. This baby was mine; I had no doubt about it. But why would she come here without me?
Panicked eyes met mine. “It’s not what you’re thinking. This was just a test to confirm. I peed in a cup, that’s it. I wanted to know for sure before I told you.”
“But you suspected?”
“Only last night. Rose came by with a test, then we came here this morning—”
“Without me.” I couldn’t get past it.
I had to let this go.
“I’m sorry. This isn’t a big deal, I swear. It’s not like there was an ultrasound, or like I found out if it’s a boy or a girl. This is nothing, I promise.” The tinge of desperation in her tone made me want to gather her close and comfort her, but my wounded feelings kept me still.
“It’s not nothing. It’s everything.” This positive test was a turning point in my psyche. I had the desperate urge to do something, anything, to make her understand how much I loved her. Our baby was growing inside of her right now. I had to make her understand that I would do whatever it took, no matter what it cost me, to be there for her. I forced myself to move and pulled her into my side.
“That’s not what I meant, Jake. Please try to understand—”
“Marry me,” I burst out.
She stood, shaking herself out of my embrace and spinning around to face me. “I can’t! I’m still married!” She sobbed. “I can’t keep doing this to you. Oh my God, you could have been arrested today because of me. I’ll ruin your life, Jake. I can’t do it to you. I won’t do it.”
“I don’t care, Violet. I love you.”
“I can’t. I’ll destroy you, Jake. Can’t you see that? It’s obvious Tom is after something. He wants to ruin me, and he’ll bring you down too if we keep fooling ourselves into thinking everything will be okay. We both know it’s true. Look at what he did to my shop!” I opened my mouth to say something, but Violet interrupted before I got the chance. “You can’t argue with me on this. We both know it was all him. He got all those people to one-star me. He sent that woman in to make a scene. It took forever to get Holly to come back to work. Who else would know who to aim the wacko at? Tom knows Holly is shy about stuff like that, and he knows I need her. He wants me to lose everything—”
“You’ll never lose me,” I protested.
“This isn’t about me not trusting you or loving you. This is about your reputation. I won’t wreck your life, what you’ve fought so hard to accomplish—”
“None of that means anything without you.”
“I didn’t say never. Just not while Tom is still a threat to everything you’re trying to do. Can you understand that? I’m doing this for us, for our clean start.”
“I don’t understand. I’m sorry, but I don’t. Give me these nine months to make you fall in love with me, Violet, please. I’m telling you right now that I don’t care one bit about my reputation. It’s worthless—”
“It isn’t! Your mother’s charity needs you! Rich people don’t like scandal, Jake. You need donations and grants and I don’t even know what else. But it’s all dependent on you looking good to your donors.”
I sat there absorbing her words. They were all