He stopped and Teddy waited. Adam knew she thought there was more to the story. And there was.
“What happened?” she asked.
Even now, five years later he still found it hard to talk about. “Chloe was having an affair with another man. I found them together. We argued and she walked out on me.”
Teddy gasped. “I am so sorry.”
Adam didn’t want to go on, but knew he had to. “When she left, we were both angry. She jumped in the car and took off. I thought she was alone but found out later she was with a guy. Less than a mile from our apartment, there was an accident. She’d driven too fast and lost control. It hit a telephone pole. Both of them died. The autopsy revealed she was pregnant. The child wasn’t mine.”
“Oh, my God,” Teddy said. She reached for him, hugging him close and holding on, giving him the support he needed. “I can’t imagine how you must have felt.”
“It was hard for a time,” he said. He kept his arms around her, took in the smell of her hair, the softness of her body. Teddy was nothing like Chloe. She was her own woman, with her own goals. She didn’t attach herself to anyone like Chloe had done to him. Chloe had been content to hang on to his coattails, let him do the work and support her. She’d had little ambition and as soon as the ring was on her hand, she’d never come to the office again. Adam wondered if she’d ever loved him or if he just happened to be the one with the most potential.
He didn’t look at Teddy. He knew he was in love with her, but she also scared him. Chloe had done a number on him and it wasn’t Teddy’s fault, but after his experience with his wife and then Chloe, could he trust another woman the way he’d trusted Chloe? When he’d taken his vows before God and their friends, he’d meant them. He fully expected to spend his life making Chelsea both rich and happy. That had changed. Then Chloe had come along and he felt as if this was real love. But that had collapsed, too. Veronica added to his vase of black roses. Like Chloe she’d betrayed him. But she didn’t have her claws as deeply into him as his ex-fiancée had.
“I know what happened to you is hard to deal with,” Teddy said. “And now I think I understand your mother better.”
“My mother? How’s that?”
“Chloe broke your trust. You were younger, less experienced with the world. You grew up in that moment.”
“I can’t argue that,” he said.
“You also decided to go it alone. Women weren’t trustworthy. Even when you loved them, they would let you down.”
Adam had never heard it put that way before. “That’s not altogether true. I went out with plenty of women. I just never found the right one.” He challenged Teddy’s characterization.
“You didn’t really want to. You used your job as a crutch to end a relationship. You used your past relationships as a reason to not risk your heart on another disappointment.”
“I’ve been out with you more than any other woman,” he said.
Teddy smiled. “Because I’m safe. We had an agreement from the beginning. There was no chance of us getting close to a relationship. No danger of me stepping across your line in the sand. No risk of me challenging your heart.”
How wrong she was, Adam thought. She’d affected his heart more than any woman ever had. And that included Chloe. Adam couldn’t say when it happened, but it had.
“You said something about my mother.”
“Your mother’s quest is to help you find someone to replace Chloe in your heart.”
“I assure you, Chloe is no longer in my heart.”
“Maybe,” she said. “Maybe not.”
“What about you?” Adam asked. “Is that guy still in your heart?”
“Chad? He was, but he’s no longer part of my life. And he has no hold on me anymore.”
He patted her hand. “We are a pair.”
“But not a couple.”
Chapter 10
Snow showed up for the holidays. It came down heavy, coating the ground and everything in its path. It was white and beautiful, but for Teddy it only added to her depression. By December 15, there were several layers on the ground and more coming.