Chapter 103: Broken Trust

Naomi pointed straight at him. "Fuck you!"

"Naomi!" Tessa stared at her. "What’s gotten into you?!"

Naomi turned to her. There was no graceful way to say it. So she just said it. "Your husband is cheating on you."

Jordan went pale. Naomi kept going before she could lose her nerve.

"He followed me here because he didn’t want me to tell you."

"Naomi—" Jordan started.

"I saw them two weeks ago at the restaurant I told you I would be renting their kitchen from. Yeah, well, I skipped that big detail. I’m sorry. I tried to tell you, I swear I did, but then you told me about the baby and you were so happy and scared at the same time, and I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t look at you after you told me you were pregnant and then immediately destroy everything."

Jordan moved closer.

"Tessa, listen to me—"

"So I didn’t tell you. I thought maybe I could deal with him first. I thought maybe if it was one horrible mistake and it stopped, then maybe I wouldn’t have to be the person who blew up your marriage." Her words were tumbling over each other now.

Exactly the way Naomi spoke when she was overwhelmed.

"So I stopped by his office on my way to the bakery this morning because I wanted to tell him that as long as it never happened again, I was willing to give him another chance for your sake, because I know how much you love him and I know you’re having his baby and I didn’t want to hurt you, Tess, I swear to God I didn’t want to hurt you—" Her throat tightened. "But then I found her in his office."

"She was hiding behind the curtain." Naomi still hadn’t taken a proper breath. "She was there, Tessa. The same woman. In his office. Behind the fucking curtain. And then he followed me here. I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry."

That was when Naomi realized she was crying. She hadn’t noticed the tears start. Her face was wet and her chest hurt because this was her best friend.

And Naomi had just shattered something in her life that could never be put back exactly the same way.

Tessa stood completely still. For several long seconds, it felt as though everyone had stopped breathing. Tessa replayed every word. "What?" she finally let out. "Wh... what?"

"Tessa?" Jordan called just as she turned to face him.

She simply stared at him, as though she were waiting for his face to change and reveal that this was all some horrible misunderstanding. "Is this true?" She already knew the answer.

Naomi would never lie to her about something like this. Not in a million years. Still, there was something different about hearing betrayal from the horse’s mouth. "It can’t be true, can it?"

Jordan’s face crumpled. "Tessa, it was just a lapse in judgement. I swear it meant nothing."

Tessa tightened her grip on her handbag until the leather dug into her fingers. She needed something to squeeze because wrapping both hands around her husband’s neck was not an appropriate response.

"Tess—"

"I have to go." She turned away.

"T..." Naomi called softly. "I’ll drive you."

"No!" Tessa spun around. Her eyes were filling now, but there was anger underneath the tears."I need to be on my own. You both stay away from me."

Naomi’s chest hurt. She understood why Tessa was angry with her. She deserved some of it. But understanding didn’t mean she was about to stand there and watch her devastated best friend get behind the wheel of a car.

Tessa started toward her vehicle. Naomi followed.

"Tessa."

"Leave me alone, Naomi."

Naomi reached forward and snatched the handbag straight out of her hand.

"What are you doing?"

"If you think I am going to let you get in a car and drive right now, you must be crazy."

"Give me my bag."

"Naomi!"

"No!"

"You sat on this. You sat on this for two weeks! Two weeks, Naomi!"

"I’m sorry."

"There is no excuse I can give you right now," Naomi said. "I should have told you."

Tessa wiped angrily at her face. "Then why didn’t you?"

Naomi shook her head. "I don’t have an answer that will make you feel better." She had hesitated. She had made a choice for Tessa without asking Tessa what she wanted.

Maybe Dorian had been right when he told her there was no perfect option.

"Be mad at me," Naomi said. "Don’t even speak to me if you don’t want to. You can hate me for however long you need. But I cannot let you leave by yourself."

"Naomi..." Tessa started to argue.

Naomi ignored her. She marched to the Range Rover, opened the back door and pointed inside. "Get in. Or I swear to God, I will physically put you in this car."

Tessa still stood there stubbornly. Naomi took her firmly by the arm and practically bundled her into the back seat. Tessa was too emotionally exhausted to put up much of a fight.

Naomi shut the door, hurried around the Range Rover and climbed into the driver’s seat. The vehicle pulled away.

Jordan remained standing exactly where they had left him.

Completely speechless.

He had no idea what was going to happen next. Would Tessa come home? Would she throw him out?

Would she tell him the marriage was over? He had no idea what was going to happen next but with the look on Tessa’s face, it was not going to be good.

*****

Dorian arrived at the home of the Bennetts’ former neighbour late that night. Now that he knew the person following him had been hired by Naomi’s nosy uncle, he no longer had a reason to keep postponing the visit.

He walked up the porch steps and knocked, then deliberately stepped back from the door. There was no need to loom. He was a fairly tall man, large and had the look of someone considering a career as a serial killer, it was late, and he had shown up without an invitation. The least he could do was avoid looking like the beginning of a true-crime documentary.

A light came on inside. A few seconds later, the door opened. A woman peered out cautiously.

"Yes?" she asked.