“Raphe, we haven’t slept together since last January. Trust me, it was… I was with someone, um… the night of Finn’s wedding.”
“Seriously?” he asked, blinking and shaking his head more in a twitch than any sort of actual gesture. He slipped back and folded his hands over his chest and shook his head. “You did the horny bridesmaid thing?”
“Hey. Watch it.”
“Were you seeing this guy, or was it just that night?”
“It was just that night, but that doesn’t give you the right to be an asshole about it.”
“You had a one-nighter with some random, but you and I have a solid foundation, and you’re making me wait?”
“Yes. We’re talking about completely different circumstances.” She choked on a sharp exhale and tried to remember why she’d agreed to get back together in the first place.
Raphe pushed to stand, and for a moment, Zoe thought he was going to walk away.
Whatever foolish instinct that kept drawing her back to him thrust into her and she said, “Wait.”
Dark eyebrows low over his eyes, he tugged back the chair next to her and dropped in. “At least that’s something, that you still want me around.”
“I wanted to finish our conversation.”
“I was moving closer so I didn’t have to shout across the table.” He rested his palm on her cheek and said softly, “Look, Zoe, I care about you. Weddings are lonely and everyone gets romantic, so I get it. We all make mistakes—”
She took his hand and lowered it back to the table, and wrapped her fingers over his. “It wasn’t a mistake. I mean, the condom failing wasn’t ideal, but the night wasn’t a mistake. I don’t regret any of it.”
His chest puffed and cheeks inflated, and his eyes burned red.
“I’m not saying that to hurt you, I just want to be completely honest with you. I hope to hell you’ve had special moments in your life, memorable intimate moments in your life, with people who aren’t me. I’m really sorry that the timing of all of this is so… weird. I mean, we are doing much better this time around, and I know this throws a wrench in things—”
“A wrench? I’ll say.” He exhaled a lung full of air, nearly a growl of it. “Who was it? Who’s baby’s in your belly.”
“Whoa. This is the shit that made me dread telling you,” she fired back. “The second you get upset, you think it’s fine to start talking like…that. Like you don’t have to treat me with respect when you’re angry.” Foothills was a classy, artsy and active sort of mountain getaway town, but some of its residents acted like this was the old west.
“I’m upset as hell and my girl is pregnant with someone else’s kid. Of course I want to know who you slept with. What are you hiding?”
“Have a little patience and understanding. I’m not hiding anything. And for fuck’s sake,” Zoe growled and looked around at the increasing heads turning their direction. She dropped her voice to a whisper and hissed, “Woman. I am a woman, stop calling me your girl—”
“If I called you ‘my woman’ that would sound—”
“I’m not finished,” she growled. “Ryder Mallory. I slept with him one time. Once. As he doesn’t even live in town—”
“You’re fucking kidding—”
“I’m not fucking kidding.” Her shoulders lifted and fell, her teeth gritted painfully tight. “I’m trying to be open and honest with you. I slept with him once, and one of his little swimmers got past the condom, and I’m pregnant. I was hoping you and I could have an adult conversation about this. I know this is a lot, and there’s already a lot of pressure on this relationship—”
“You were lonely enough to fuck Ryder Mallory? At least that’s something, that you were miserable enough without me to fall for his bullshit.”
“It’s none of your damn business who I slept with when we were apart and it had nothing to do with you.”
“It is now that my girlfriend is having the asshole’s baby.”
She growled and felt her voice rising. “Ugh, you are impossible. I haven’t even finished explaining everything, and you’re judging me for the choices I made when you weren’t even a part of my life.” Zoe pushed to stand and felt a sea of pitying eyes witnessing yet another public argument with Raphe.
“Zoe, wait,” he said, reaching for her hand. “Let’s talk.”
“I just tried that.” She stuffed her hands unreachably into her pockets and looked down her nose at him. “My mother raised me to respect myself, and to dump a guy who didn’t think the world of me, in every way. Goodbye Raphe.”
As she stalked away, she heard him mumble something about her having as inflated of an ego as Ryder Mallory.
