Roman - Lane Hart Page 0,59
I know people.”
“That’s okay. I’ll figure something out, but thanks for offering. I need some time alone.”
“Sure, yeah. I get it.”
“So, when will we be able to go see the woman my husband had an affair with and knocked up?” she asks.
“Tomorrow hopefully. I’m waiting for Meredith to call me back.”
“Oh,” she says. “Do you talk to her often?”
“I do, yeah,” I admit. “She’s a single mother with no family around to help out.”
“So you help her out?”
“I do.”
“Oh my god,” Charlotte mutters.
“What?”
“Did you sleep with her too?”
“Huh? Why are you…what…why would you ask me that?”
“Did you sleep with Meredith, Roman?”
Fuck. I consider lying for a second, but Charlotte deserves the full truth. Besides, it was barely even a thing.
“Just once,” I admit. “Well, one night,” I explain with a cringe.
“I knew it!” Charlotte exclaims indignantly. “You…you…”
“I didn’t mean for it to happen!” I tell her. “I was just down there visiting for Aiden’s first birthday. After her friends from work left, I stayed to help Meredith clean up afterwards. It was late, so she told me I could spend the night. I didn’t know she was asking me to spend the night with her until, well, you know…”
“You’re telling me that you fell into bed with her because of a misunderstanding?” Charlotte scoffs.
“You can’t be mad at me for sleeping with a woman years before I even met you!” I exclaim.
“Sure I can!” she yells back. “Apparently this is what you do! I’m just a project for you like she is! So you ride in on your white horse, or more accurately, your black Harley, to help out widows and single mothers, and then you sleep with them because you have a hero complex a mile wide!”
“I’m not married to anyone, am I? I’m free to fuck whoever I want. Besides, Charlotte, you’re one to talk,” I mutter. “You won’t take off your fucking wedding band or fuck me in the bed we sleep in because it’s too ‘intimate’!”
She stares at me with heat filling her eyes, and I know I went too far, but dammit, I’ve been patient long enough.
“You know what, Roman? Just give me this woman’s address. I can go see her on my own.”
“No,” I grit out.
“Yes!”
“No! I’m going with you.”
“Why? Because you’re scared of what she might say about you? Do you send her flowers on Valentine’s? Do her and Adam have an anniversary you never miss?”
“No, I didn’t do any of those things for her,” I grumble. “All I do is send her money for her kid that your wonderful husband left behind!”
“And screw her when she gets lonely?” Charlotte asks with a fake pout.
“It was one time! One night!” I correct myself again while simultaneously kicking myself in the ass for the stupid decision I made in the past that’s coming back to haunt me. Damn Adam and his mistress!
“Send me her address and tell her I’m coming to see her,” she says through clenched teeth. I know from her demeanor she’s not going to bend on this.
“Fine,” I agree with a sigh. “But just, please go easy on her, okay? Adam put her through hell too. She didn’t know he was married at first.”
“At first!” Charlotte shouts. “But she did know eventually, and that didn’t stop her from having an affair, did it?”
“No, I guess not.”
“Then I don’t owe her anything, do I?” she asks before she storms out.
Charlotte
Some of my anger fades when I pull up to the address Roman sent me and see how tiny and rundown the house is that my husband’s mistress and their son live in.
For the millionth time, I check my rearview, fully expecting to see a Harley drive up behind me because he’s too hard-headed to let me come alone. But there’s no bike and no other cars on the rural road on this bright Monday afternoon. I’m both relieved and a little disappointed.
Before I can second-guess my decision about coming, the red front door opens and then a raven-haired woman is filling it. She lifts her palm in an awkward wave that I return.
Guess it’s now or never.
Tossing my keys into my purse, I throw it over my shoulder and climb out of my car to walk up the cracked sidewalk.
“Hey, you must be Charlotte,” she says with a hint of an exotic accent when I approach her.
“And you must be Meredith, my dead husband’s girlfriend.”
“Go ahead and say it,” she replies with a sigh as she holds the door open for me