51
VIVIEN
“Iswear to you, Vivien. Reeve never mentioned a word to me. I’m as shocked as you are,” Alex says, looking as pale as a ghost.
Audrey and Alex moved back to L.A. in July, and he’s coaching football at a local private school while Audrey is getting her new practice off the ground. Renovations are underway on the space Reeve bought for her medical practice, and she’s hoping to open for business in a few weeks. I love having my bestie close again, and it meant they were able to come over after Alex finished work for the day.
“I just can’t believe he would do that. It goes against everything I thought I knew about him,” Audrey says, sipping her glass of white wine.
I was tempted to hit the vino immediately after Lori left, but I abstained until my friend and her husband showed up. My parents were here earlier, and they have taken Easton for a sleepover.
“What did your parents say?” she asks.
“They are shell-shocked too.” I cross my feet at the ankles. “Mom thinks we have to accept there were parts of him we didn’t know. She believes this is a direct result of the damage Simon caused. This is what abandonment, neglect, and abuse can do to a person.”
“I can’t believe he had a kid with that whore and he told no one.” Audrey’s mouth pulls into a thin line. “I remember how stressed he was that summer you were in Ireland, but I put it down to his anxiety over getting you back.” She slants a sympathetic look at Dillon. My husband is sipping a beer, perched on the arm of the couch, looking drained. And I get it. It’s been an exhausting emotional day.
“I knew she was harassing him,” Alex admits, and we all swing our gazes in his direction.
“Sit down and tell us everything you know,” Audrey demands, leveling her husband with a look that warns him not to refuse.
“I don’t know much.” Alex drops onto the couch beside Audrey. “But he did confide that Saffron was hounding him, constantly calling and showing up at his house, and he told me Carson Park was working on obtaining restraining orders for you and him. It had to be done discreetly so the press wouldn’t find out, and he didn’t want you knowing either.” He has the decency to look ashamed.
“Was he having an affair with her the whole time, Alex?” I eyeball Reeve’s best friend. “Did he sleep with her on more than one occasion?” It’s not that I’m doubting what Lori believes or that Saffron could’ve gotten pregnant from one night. If she was ovulating and they used no protection, it’s totally possible. What I am doubting is whether Saffron told her the truth. And whether Bodhi’s existence is the only thing Reeve was concealing.
“No.” He vigorously shakes his head. “Absolutely not. He hated her, Vivien. He hated how he let her come between you.” He takes a mouthful of beer while I gulp my wine. “She played him perfectly from the start. She was friendly, wanting to know about you, gushing about how amazing it was you two were so close and had such big plans. She stroked his ego, telling him how talented he was and how he was going places.”
“And he fell for that bullshit?” Dillon looks and sounds incredulous.
“He was out of his depth, Dillon. He was struggling without Viv. She always grounded him, and he had never been away from her before. He was drowning under the weight of responsibility. He was always trying to prove himself to that prick, Simon, and he wanted to prove to Vivien that he could go it alone and he could take care of her.” Alex looks at me. “That’s why he refused your mom’s help. He wanted to be able to say he’d done it all on his own.”
“But it backfired because that bitch stuck her claws in him,” Audrey adds.
“She had been acting all sisterly, speaking about her boyfriend, showing no sexual interest in Reeve, but she was gradually planting seeds of doubt, gradually getting more flirty and touchy-feely. By this point, things were strained with you, Viv, and he was seriously stressed and depressed. That’s when she started properly manipulating him. He was surrounded by older actors who all made it seem like doing drugs and fucking each other was the norm on sets.”
“And you expect me to believe he only kissed her at Christmas and had sex with her that time in Mexico?”
“I can only tell you what he told me, and that was it.” He scrubs a hand over his jaw. “By the way, he only told me all this after the fact. If you remember, I didn’t see much of him when I first moved to Boston.”
“I remember.”
“I wish he’d confided in me at the time. I might have been able to decipher the signs and warn him about her.”
“And you’re sure he was only with her on those occasions?” I ask because I need to know for my sanity.
“One hundred percent, Viv. Oh, she tried to seduce him many times, but he knocked her back.”
“I don’t know if I believe that anymore,” I admit. “And I don’t want to focus on that. It will only make me all ragey.” I reach out, squeezing Alex’s hand. “I just needed to know you weren’t keeping it a secret too.”
“I’m hurt you’d think I would, but I understand.”
“What are you going to do?” Audrey asks, her gaze bouncing between us.
“That’s the million-dollar question,” Dillon says, and we exchange a look.
“I don’t know if I can take him in, knowing he is hers. But he’s Reeve’s flesh and blood.” Tears fill my eyes. “At the funeral, I remember thinking how sad it was that there was no physical part of Reeve left behind. No son or daughter who carried his DNA. Now there is, and I don’t know what to do about it.” I scoot down on the couch, taking Dillon’s hand in mine. “And it’s not just my decision. This is something we have to decide together, and it’s got to be what’s best for our family.”
* * *