Home Sweet Christmas by Susan Mallery

Author:Susan Mallery
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HQN Books
Published: 2022-07-29T12:40:49+00:00

fifteen

Camryn hadn’t seen that confession coming, nor did she know what to say about it.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’m sorry. Helen is wonderful and you should never have been put in that position.”

“I was so pissed,” he admitted, looking at her. “They’d always talked about how perfect their marriage was. Mom said he was her great love. She told me to make sure I fell in love with someone as wonderful as she had. She told me I was just like him.” His mouth twisted. “He’s the last person I want to be like.”

“She didn’t mean it that way. She meant the good parts. You know that. Everyone has a dark side. I’m sorry you had to see his.”

Jake’s gaze locked with hers. “Later, when we got back from the conference, the three of us talked about his cheating. I know he put her up to it. She was so calm, so understanding. She said it happened every now and then and while she didn’t like it, she understood it didn’t mean anything.”

He grimaced. “You’ve met my mother. She’s a proud, caring woman. I kept thinking how humiliated she had to be, to discuss her husband’s cheating with her son. I told them I got it and I left. I’ll never forgive him for what he did to her. Not just the screwing around, but making her say it was fine.”

Camryn reached across the table and laced her fingers with his. “She loves you, Jake. That’s why she said those things. She knew if you hated your father, it would eat you up inside. She wanted you to stay whole. And she loved him. That’s obvious.”

“She does. Still. And I have no idea why.”

Their server appeared to take their order. Camryn quickly ordered a Caesar salad and the evening’s featured pasta. Jake asked for the same.

When they were alone, she tried to make sense of what he’d shared with her. She couldn’t imagine accepting a husband who cheated. Every marriage was different, but for her that would be crossing a line. And Jake was obviously still furious with his father and determined to be nothing like him. He was—

“That’s why you broke up with Reggie,” she blurted. “Oh, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

One eyebrow rose. “You’re right. It wasn’t Iona showing up so much as me taking a second to wonder if I was making the right decision. I know now that it makes sense to think things through, but in the moment I worried I was like him. That if I was attracted to both of them, then I was a cheating bastard, like my dad. I didn’t know how to process what I was feeling, so I did what I thought was the honorable thing. I broke Reggie’s heart.”

“You said you’d cleared things up with her,” Camryn said. “Does she know about...”

He shook his head. “I told her about Iona. Dylan’s the only other person who knows about my father.”

And he’d told her? She wasn’t sure what to do with that information.

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