Page 104 of The Logic of Loyalty

She snorts, quickly recovering from my response to her underhanded apology. “Oh, she knows it was only a matter of time before someone like him stepped out on someone like her.” She runs a hand over her soft curves and flips her long hair over her shoulder. “I did her a favor. Maybe she’ll thank me.”

“Thank you.” Bethany stands on the other side of Krista, a bag of apples and chips in her hands. “I appreciate that you’re there for my fiancé when he requires someone to take care of his basic needs when I’m busy.” She passes Krista, knocking into her shoulder as she walks up to me. “It’s interesting to me that you settled for being a mistress, though.”

“I’m not a mistress … and you aren’t his fiancé. God, how delusional—” Her voice trails off when Bethany lifts her hand, showing off a ring I didn’t even know existed.

Krista’s eyes narrow on Bethany’s hand, and she takes a step closer. A couple of women walk into the aisle, see the three of us in our standoff, and scurry off.

Bethany twirls the ring on her finger a few times before holding her hand out in mock pride for Krista to see. I try to hide my own surprise and play along.

Krista’s shoulders drop, and her mouth opens and shuts without a sound. “I did everything he asked me to. Everything.” Her voice is a broken whisper, and Bethany squeezes my hand. She’s watching Krista break, but she’s standing tall through it all.

Somehow, accepting a man’s proposal—her man’s proposal—is breaking her former best friend. “I also did everything he said. Did you know that? I did everything. He. Said. I was exactly what and who he asked me to be. How did he repay me, Krista? Hmm? What did Bobby do to repay me for years of devotion and quiet submission?”

“Have you looked at you? He loves me, and I love him. We are meant for each other.” Krista straightens, meeting Bethany toe to toe. Her voice is a cutting whisper and is choked in tears. They’re the same height, and something in their face is oddly similar, but that’s where the similarities end. Bethany is full-figured, pale, with dark straight hair, and Krista is slender, tanned, with light hair. Bethany reaches out with her left hand and tucks a strand of Krista’s hair behind her ear. A move that completely throws off her scathing retort.

As she leans in to Krista, I hear footsteps behind me and the quiet whisper of Bethany’s low, throaty voice. “And yet, I’m still the one with the ring. How does it feel, Krista? Knowing that you tried to break all of these relationships, yet in the end, nobody picked you?”

A familiar hand settles onto my shoulder, and I fight against shrugging it off. Having this woman feel like she has a right to talk to me like this is partially his fault.

“You superior, little bitch! If you only knew—” She snaps her mouth shut, then looks at the man who joined us. “Trevor. You wouldn’t believe it. I was here trying to get some groceries when these two⁠—”

“Drop it, Krista. Bethany called me the second she saw you.” He lifts his phone and hangs up his call he apparently had with Bethany. Well played, Bethany.

“I—She—They⁠—”

He swipes his hand through the air. “You are so far from innocent in all of this. As my personal assistant and family friend, you were taking advantage of my trust and sabotaging my communication with my wife. My pregnant wife. That was all about being with the man you love? You stupid, naive girl.” Krista’s eyes widen, and she drops her gaze to the soft curve of my stomach. “You know it’s great to have a phone during an emergency, right? So when my pregnant wife got into a terrible accident and flipped her car, why couldn’t she get hold of me, Krista?” Her eyes go wide and she pales with dawning horror. “Any clue, any inkling why that may be? Why couldn’t my terrified, pregnant wife contact me that day? How does that fit in with being with the man you love?”

“Enough.” I step forward. “You’ve done enough.” I grip Bethany’s hand and pull her back with me. “Get help. Figure your shit out before you try to rip apart another couple, or another marriage.”

I dismiss her, then look back to my chocolate options and see a Tootsie roll—chewy and chocolatey. I nab it and open it right there in the aisle, taking a bite while they all stand there. Bethany snorts. I take another bite and chew. “Mmm.” Delicious. “Do you want a bite?” I offer it to Krista, but snatch it back in an instant. “Wait, no. Never mind. I don’t know if I trust where that mouth has been.”

Krista sputters, so I turn away from her and wave the candy bar over my head. “Don’t worry if you want some. I don’t know if I can finish this candy bar anymore. I may need someone who doesn’t mind sloppy seconds, so I don’t waste any of it.” I don’t see her reaction, but I can see Trevor and Bethany following me out. Thankfully, Bethany still has the chips and apples.

I pay for the groceries, though Trevor tries to step in. I hold my hand up to him then tighten my shirt across my belly for Frankie, so she doesn’t think I’m crazy, just pregnant. She doesn’t seem to give a damn.

I, on the other hand, am livid. I direct Bethany to the Suburban and hop into the passenger seat of Trevor’s car. I think it’s time he gets a piece of Pregnancy Rage Paige.

Chapter Thirty-Three

PAIGE

The street is quiet, but only because it’s early in the afternoon. Traffic will pick back up and die down again soon. Briar Ridge traffic may as well be a clock. School is out? Chaos. Work is over? Another small swarm. Getting dark out? Final dribble of drivers. Anyone out between those times can be counted on maybe two hands.

Trevor pulls his new-old car into the lot behind The Shop, and I marvel at it. I know he enjoyed his Camaro, but I recognize it was never about how new and flashy it was. A memory niggles the back of my mind, but the sound of a door slamming puts me back to my mission.

I’m feeling unhinged. I can’t latch onto one emotion, so I’m feeling them all as I slam the car door and stalk to the long set of stairs. Stairs that look far cleaner than the last time I was here. That’s not surprising when I consider how clean my husband is. But who was he so clean for?

I pause at the entry, shocked to see not the chipped brown paint of before. Instead, the door is a gorgeous teal color that I adore. This is not Trevor’s style. Why would Billy do this? Why would Trevor do this? I grab the handle and turn, but nothing happens. Dammit. A hand reaches around me and slides a key into the new bolt lock, and Trevor opens the door, pushing it wide for me to enter. I ignore his heat against my back and stomp inside.

The door glides open to a brightly lit space. I flip on the light in the strangely quiet room—the muffled echoes of some type of machine working down below are the only sounds. The wood-paneled walls are either replaced or painted over—a fresh reset. The old stained carpets are pulled up and replaced with beautiful hardwood.

I don’t know what I was expecting to see, but the view in front of me is not it. Filling the refinished space are photos. Framed, pinned, hanging on the walls, and sitting on the new tables and shelves. The first photo I zero in on hangs on the wall behind the new couch. It’s Jacob and me from a few summers ago. We went on a rented boat to the lake, and Jacob caught his first fish all by himself. “Get together and say cheese!” Jacob kissed the fish instead of saying cheese, and my face is hysterical. I was so grossed out and worried about the diseases he could get. I recall being shocked by the clarity of the image, considering how hard Trevor had been laughing.

It was a perfect day. We had a lot of those.

I drag my gaze across the walls, covered in Christmases, New Years, birthdays, and random memories throughout the last decade. My eyes widen when I recognize a number of them include ones I’ve taken with her. “Oh, Bethany.” Her smile was sad in the earlier photos, but the progression is clear as Jacob and I showed her love and acceptance for who she is. Trevor has well over twenty photographs spread through the living areas and into the small kitchen, covering the area of the once dingy, sparse apartment.

The dated appliances are now newer, stainless steel.