part of my heart flared up at his need to protect us.
I could do this.
TRISTAN
I’d assumed there was an ex-husband, but she’d never mentioned him, and I’d selfishly liked the idea that he wasn’t around for her or his kid. But she’d looked nervous tonight, and I’d had glimpses of her being off so many times before that it raised the hairs on the back of my neck. She was keeping things from me, and I hated secrets. They destroyed things.
But Evie wasn’t Monica, I reminded myself.
“Um. So, I should start by telling you about my ex-husband. He’s not in the picture anymore, I promise. Getting divorced was one of the best things that could’ve happened to me, but my ex is not James’ father.”
“Okay,” I said.
“Dustin and I got married right out of college and we wanted a family. We tried for years and nothing happened. We did all the tests, and eventually, they said I had unexplained infertility. He wanted a family, but he didn’t want to adopt and he didn’t want to go through IVF. He said it should happen naturally.”
“He’s a dick,” I said.
She let out a short laugh. “Yeah. I wish I’d figured that out sooner.”
She continued to tell me about her ex, and I wanted to find the guy and punch him in the junk. Instead, I linked my fingers with hers and she held onto them like a lifeline.
“A year after my diagnosis, Dustin served me divorce papers. He said he wanted a family and I couldn’t give him one, so he’d found someone else.”
“What a fucking asshole. I hope you punched him right in the face,” I said. Who the fuck says that to the woman they vowed to love?
“Yeah, my mom threatened to gut him.”
“I knew I liked your mom. I’m so sorry you had to deal with that,” I said. She started to fidget, and I tried not to dread what else she was going to tell me.
“This is hard.” She took a deep breath. “I just want you to know that I didn’t plan for any of this to happen.” She held up our linked hands.
My nerves jumbled up in my gut, waiting.
“Just tell me. We’ll deal with it. I really like you, Evie.”
She sighed. “I really like you, too. More than I expected, especially this fast. Okay, so after the divorce was final, Mac took me to one of your concerts. She got VIP tickets because we were both fans and she wanted me to let go and have fun.”
“Wow. I’m an ass. So, we met before? Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Um, it was a quick interaction between us. Just a hello and nothing else. They moved us through the line to greet everyone quickly.”
“Yeah, Josh likes to rush that shit,” I said.
“Anyway. We ended up staying for drinks.”
My stomach was now in my throat. Fuck. Is James’ dad one of our roadies? Our parties back then were epic. So many people and so many substances. I’d refrained from everything but a few beers, usually.
“Please, just tell me.” My patience had run out.
She looked down at our linked hands and took in an audible breath, while mine froze in my throat. I could already tell I wasn’t going to like what she was going to tell me next.
She looked up at me, her eyes starting to tear. “I had a few drinks, and I slept with Jamie.”
My heart froze, and I dropped her hand. She held my gaze, but shock overtook me and I tried to comprehend what she was trying to tell me.
I shook my head.
“Please say something,” she said, pain in her eyes.
“I’m not sure I’m understanding. Are you telling me that you hooked up with Jamie—Jamie Steel—got pregnant, and didn’t tell anyone?”
No. How? No. This couldn’t be happening.
She reached for my hand, but I didn’t want to be touched.
“Yes,” she whispered.
“But you just told me you couldn’t get pregnant.” I shook my head. Clearly, she was able to get pregnant because James was real.
“It was a shock. We used a condom, but maybe it broke or it was expired. I have no idea. I didn’t find out until I was past the first trimester. My cycles were always irregular so I didn’t think anything of it until I had some pelvic pain and they did some bloodwork and then an ultrasound.”
“Why didn’t you tell him?” I asked. I had to be missing something. He would’ve told us if he had a kid on the way.
“It