Chapter 42

Luca

B ack in New York, the first woman I wanted to see when I stepped off the plane was Polly. The first I saw was Clara. Her presence was so unexpected, her appearance so altered, I walked straight past her.

“Luca! Luca, hey, it’s me, Clara.” Once the shock wore off, I searched for Dallas, for anyone or anything to explain her appearance.

“Clara? What… What are you doing here?” She laughed as though it was the dumbest thing she ever heard, tugged on the sleeve of my jacket and pulled me into a weird, sideways hug. Her impeccably styled hair tickled my nose, smelling fresh and floral as always, yet it did absolutely nothing for me.

“I came to pick you up, silly.”

“Why?”

The edge of her lips turned slightly. “Polly had some things to take care of and couldn’t make time for you, so I offered.”

“Why?” I repeated, discreetly pinching my thigh to test I wasn’t dreaming. I’d taken a rather nasty puck to the head during our game in Minnesota. Perhaps I had a concussion. As confused as I was, Clara appeared equally so.

“Oh. Umm. Well. Two birds with one stone, and all. We caught up for coffee today, and she mentioned how inconvenient a drive to the airport would be in this weather. Plus, she knew we hadn’t been able to spend any time together since you came back from Australia, and how much I’ve missed you.”

“Why?” Yup. Concussion was looking more and more likely. I shook my head, took a few deep breaths and somehow unlocked my vocabulary. “Shouldn’t you be picking up Dallas. Your fiancé? You remember him? The father of the child you’re carrying.”

Clara’s cheeks flushed in a way I would once have thought adorable. “Didn’t Dallas tell you? He decided he didn’t want to be tied down with a wife and baby and broke it off. In truth, that’s why Polly sent me here. She knew I needed a distraction … and how happy and safe you always made me feel.”

“But she knew I had my car here.”

That flush of red spread down her neck and over her … nope, don’t look at her boobs. She was rattled. Playing with her necklace. Shifting on the balls of her feet. Finding her shoes very interesting. Her flustered state was an almost carbon copy of her appearance after all those late-night auditions . “Oh. Perhaps she forgot. Luckily, I got an Uber. The driver is waiting around the corner.” Still avoiding my eye, she pivoted toward the Uber pick-up area. “Just wait here. I’ll let him go, and we can ride in your car.”

With a confirming nod, she stepped away, disappearing behind the weather-faded signs advertising the latest iPhone. I glanced around again, ran my hand through the mess of hair falling into my eyes. Nothing in this situation felt right. Clara may have been one hell of an actor on stage or on camera, but she couldn’t lie for shit to my face. Not anymore. It hit me then, as she reemerged, waving at me like I was the best thing she’d seen since Dallas stood and interrupted our vows at that church… maybe she never could. Maybe back then, I was just desperate to believe her.

“Ready to go?” She smiled so sweetly and held out her hand so presumptively that it curdled my stomach. I shook my head, wincing as I began to step away.

“No. No I’m not.”

“Oh, did you forget something?”

“No.” I repeated, “I think you did.”

“I did?” She clutched her chest and tossed her head back in a haughty laugh. Had she always been so …fake?

“Yeah. I think you forgot that you broke up with me in front of everyone I cared about in a thirty-thousand-dollar dress I paid for. That you lied to me for months, and that those lies ended with you up the duff to my teammate.”

“Up the duff? What does that even mean?”

“It’s Australian for —.” For a second, the force of a brilliant idea stole my words. “Hey, you know what? Since you and Polly are such good friends now, let’s ring her and have her explain it.” I pulled my phone from my pocket, an tapped the screen.

“No, don’t. I… I… I lied, okay.” She lunged for my hand, tightly squeezing her eyes in an attempt to conjure tears. “I checked Dallas’s itinerary after he called me and came here to find you. I made a terrible mistake choosing him over you, Luca. I see that now. Do you think you could ever—”

My reply was empathic and immediate. “No.”

“But I didn’t even—”

“No. You don’t have to. And I know I don’t want you to. I don’t want anything from you, Clara. Not your company on the ride home. Not your friendship. Not your remorse. I’m sorry if things didn’t work out with Dallas, but I’m not the same person as I was a few months ago. This person wants more than what you can give me.”

“She’s poisoned you against me.”

“If by ‘she’ you mean Polly, my wife, then you’re wrong. From what I can see, she’s gone out of her way to be kind to you. And this, going behind her back, is how you repay her?”

“You think you know her, but you don’t. She’s a liar. An even bigger one than you claim me to be. Did she tell you she can’t have kids? That she’s barren?”

The utter contempt and the cold bitterness on Clara’s face distracted me from her words. “Why don’t you tell me something. Is the Clara I lived with for eighteen months and considered myself in love with the real Clara? Or is this?”

“You’re kidding me!” she scoffed, her lips pursing like she was sucking a bruised and moldy lemon. “Out of the goodness of my heart, I tell you the woman you married has hidden this, the mother, pun intended, of all secrets, and God knows what else from you, and all you do is turn on me? That’s really all you have to say?”

The implications of her revelation were beginning to sink in, but there was no way in hell I would let her see that. “No. It’s not all I have to say, but it’s all I will say … apart from this. You’re not worth my contempt, regret, remorse, or time, Clara. I know what love looks, smells, and tastes like now, and I chose that. She … Polly… kids or not is who deserves my time.”

“She’ll never make you happy.”

“She already has. Now fuck off.”