The Best Man to Trust - By Kerry Connor Page 0,49

long moment, her gaze faraway. Finally she lowered her eyes, giving her head a small shake. “It doesn’t matter. It was a long time ago. It’s in the past.”

I’m not so sure about that, Meredith thought. Given everything that was happening to members of her college group, it seemed more likely than not that something from the past wasn’t staying there. She studied the woman’s face, more convinced than ever Rachel was hiding something. Whether it was because she truly didn’t believe it was relevant or because she didn’t think it was any of Meredith’s business, it made no difference.

Either way, Rachel wasn’t talking.

* * *

AS SOON AS TOM saw Meredith sit beside Rachel, he turned and moved to where Scott sat across the room. Scott leaned back in an overstuffed leather chair, his gaze distant as he stared straight in front of him.

Tom lowered himself into the chair beside him. “Hey, Scotty. You doing okay?”

Scott let out a long, slow breath. “Honestly? I don’t know.” He turned and looked at Tom, mustering a weak smile. “I’m glad you’re here, man. With Alex throwing accusations around and Greg drinking everything he can get his hands on, it’s good to have somebody I can count on around here.”

Tom glanced over to where Greg sat in an isolated corner. He held a glass in one hand, though he wasn’t drinking from it. Instead, he stared at the liquid it contained, seemingly lost in thought. “He didn’t waste any time finding the bar, did he?”

“No,” Scott said with a grimace. “The sad thing is, he told me last year that he stopped drinking, but I guess that didn’t last. It’s one thing I told Rachel to talk her into inviting him. With Alex performing the ceremony and it looking like you weren’t going to make it, I needed someone to be my best man. I mean, there are a couple of guys I work with I could have asked, but it would have felt strange having somebody here who wasn’t part of the group, you know? I would have felt bad asking them to come all this way to spend a weekend with a bunch of people they didn’t know.” Scott sighed. “Now I guess it’s a good thing I didn’t invite anyone else. I would have hated to put anyone else through this.”

“Did Alex really try to talk you out of marrying Rachel?”

“It wasn’t like that. It was like he said. He asked me if I really believed I could trust her after how she treated me in college. I figured a minister would do the same thing, right? Make sure you really want to marry somebody? I told him we were both more mature now. Seven years is a long time.”

“You never did tell me. Why’d she break up with you?”

Scott sighed. “Guess there’s no reason not to tell you. You remember how crazy things were senior year. Between work and juggling classes I was barely keeping my head above water. She thought I was neglecting her, not paying her enough attention. The fact is, she was right. With everything else, I didn’t have much time for her. She knew I loved her. At least I thought she did. But I guess it wasn’t enough.”

He shook his head. “I was doing it for us. So we could have a good life. That’s the whole reason I was working so hard. To give her the life she deserved. What I didn’t know was that she didn’t want somebody who’d have to work so hard for it. She wanted somebody who could afford to take care of her. Somebody with money.”

For the first time, Tom heard the hint of bitterness in his old friend’s words. They may have gotten past it, but it seemed Scott hadn’t completely forgotten how she’d treated him—or how it had felt.

“She told you that?” Tom asked, more than a little stunned.

“No. She just left it at the neglecting-her part. She cut off all contact, refusing to talk to me, refusing to see me. Her friends were all the same way. Jess, Haley, Kim. They all acted like I suddenly didn’t exist anymore.” A hard look flashed across his face, the expression so fleeting Tom almost missed it.

“It was Kim who told me the truth. I went to their apartment to try to get Rachel to talk to me, to tell her that I’d learned my lesson and wouldn’t take her for granted anymore. Kim refused to let me