Good Girls Don't (Donovan Brothers Brewery 1)
Page 106
“Because we’re friends, that’s why. Come on. Talk to me.”
“No.” She shook her head, and Luke dropped the hand he’d started to reach out. But then she put her palm to her belly and took another breath. “Not out here.”
She tilted her head toward the car before she got into the driver’s seat. Luke joined her and closed the passenger door very carefully so as not to spook her. “Do you want to get something to—”
“He’s the father,” she said quickly. “Please don’t tell anyone, ever. If his wife finds out…”
“What happened?”
“The usual thing.”
“I know, but…Simone…”
“He was separated,” she blurted. She wrapped her hands around the steering wheel and
squeezed. “I know that sounds clichéd. He told me he left his wife. He told me he didn’t love her anymore. But it was true. He’d moved out. They were getting divorced.”
“Okay,” he said, though even to his ears, his voice sounded stiff.
“Regardless, it was a mistake. He’s my boss. He was still married. And in the end… She was the one who’d kicked him out, and when she asked him to move back in, he went. He went.”
“Did he know you were pregnant?”
“No. Even I didn’t know. We just… We thought it was over. I won’t pretend I wasn’t hurt, but I told myself that I deserved it. I screwed around with a married man. I’d fallen for my boss. Jesus, Simone, how stupid can you be?”
Suddenly he could see it so clearly. How alone she’d been. How utterly isolated. She couldn’t tell anyone, not even Luke.
“He wants to be married to her, Luke. And if she finds out, he won’t be. It’s just that simple.”
“So he gets off scot-free?”
She raised her hands, holding them up for long seconds. Finally, she let them drop. “It’s my decision, isn’t it? I could’ve gotten rid of it. I could’ve put it up for adoption. It’s my choice.”
Luke shook his head in disbelief. “Won’t he even help?”
“You think his wife won’t notice five hundred dollars a month in child support?”
“Jesus!” Luke slammed his fist onto the dash. “He can’t just leave you like that.”
“That’s the way it has to be. No one can find out. Not just because of him, but because of me. I don’t want to be that woman. The one who slept with her boss. The one who was made a fool of by a married man.”
“No one will—”
“Seriously, Luke? I’m a black woman. And a female cop. Half the guys on the force probably think I spread my legs to get where I am.”
“That’s not true.”
Simone’s dry expression radiated scorn.
Luke cursed and scrubbed his face in an attempt to dislodge some sort of rational thought, but his shock was wearing down and exposing fury beneath. And frustration.
“Promise me you won’t tell anyone.”
“Of course I won’t tell anyone! In fact…I’m completely unattached now. Just tell people I’m the father. Okay? Then they’ll stop asking. The talk will die down. No one will care.”
Her tears had dried, thank God. And she actually smiled when she punched him in the shoulder.
“Ow! I could have you arrested for that, you know.”