This Is 35 by Stacey Wiedower

Author:Stacey Wiedower [Wiedower, Stacey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Gemma Halliday Publishing
Published: 2017-02-22T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Broken Promises

September 12, later that night

Erin was sullen on the car ride home.

Though the party was still swinging when they left, everybody in high spirits from the progress of the therapy trial and the wine and liquor that was flowing freely from the bar in the corner, Ben had quietly said his good-byes to Liang, Nate, a few others Erin didn't know, and they'd slipped out the main doors of the ballroom.

He hadn't said good-bye to Melody. In fact, he'd cut Nate off mid-sentence when Melody had started walking toward them and hustled Erin away. When that happened, a sharp pain hit Erin deep in her stomach. Was he afraid Melody was going to say something even more damning? If so, what was it exactly that he didn't want Erin to hear? What had happened that night in Minnesota?

They were off the interstate and driving on city streets less than five minutes from home when Ben finally broke the silence.

"I know you're pissed at me. You have every right to be."

Erin was looking out the side window and didn't answer. She didn't look at him.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you I left the room after you called that night," he said. "But nothing happened with Melody. Nothing. I swear to you."

She processed this but still didn't say anything. At hearing Ben say Melody's name again, so casual, so familiar, a sharp pang ripped across her gut. It was as if the name was cutting into her insides. Hot tears sprang to her eyes.

Ben swallowed convulsively. Erin watched his reflection in the window, glancing over at her every few seconds. Was this the action of the nonguilty? Why would he automatically assume she'd think something had happened with Melody if it hadn't? She squeezed her eyes shut, and a tear escaped and traced down her cheek.

He didn't say anything else, but the urgency of his driving spoke for him. Usually he drove methodically, prudently—a Dallasite through and through. Right now, though, he was speeding over the urban residential boulevards, taking stop signs at a slow roll and making the turn onto their street sharply enough that she had to brace her feet against the floor mat to keep from leaning toward him. Instead of easing onto the pronounced lip of their driveway, he bounced the car right over it, jolting Erin in her seat.

She looked at him, feeling truly terrified for the first time that he'd already cheated on her, that it wasn't just something he'd been thinking about or was afraid he was being accused of. Why else would he act like this?

Instead of driving into the garage, he pulled up beside her CRV in the driveway and stopped. He put the car in park and cut the engine before he met her gaze, and when he did she fell apart.

Suddenly she couldn't see him through her tears. Sobbing and feeling ridiculous about it, she fumbled to unclick her seat belt and reached for the door handle. Before she could open it, he reached across the car and put a hand on hers, stopping her.

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