At First Sight - Nicholas Sparks [45]
Outside, the sky had turned to black, and from his seat he could see the limbs of trees swaying gently in the breeze. New spring leaves covered the once barren branches, and they glowed silver in the light of the crescent moon.
He should stay here and wait for her call, he thought. They were getting married, and he trusted her. How many times since seeing Lexie and Rodney together had he checked on her, only to feel foolish when he spotted her car at the library? Half a dozen? A dozen? Why would tonight be any different?
It wouldn’t be, he told himself, even as he reached for his keys. Like a moth drawn to light, he seemed to have no other choice, and he continued to chide himself as he slipped out the door and crawled behind the wheel of his car.
The night was quiet and dark; downtown was deserted, and in the shadows, Herbs seemed oddly forbidding. He passed by without slowing and headed toward Doris’s, knowing that he’d find her there. When he saw Doris’s car parked in the driveway, he sighed, feeling a strange mixture of relief and regret. Until that instant, he’d forgotten that he’d simply left Lexie at Herbs without a car in which to get around, and he nearly laughed aloud.
Okay, he thought, that was settled, and he began making his way to Lexie’s, thinking he would wait for her there. When she got home, he’d be supportive and quiet, listen to her worries, and make her a cup of hot chocolate if she wanted one. He’d made way too much out of nothing.
Yet when he turned onto Lexie’s street and saw her house up the block, he found himself feeling instinctively for the brake pedal. Slowing the car and leaning nearer to the windshield, he blinked to make sure he was seeing things right, then suddenly squeezed the steering wheel hard.
Her car wasn’t in the drive, nor were the lights on. He slammed on the brakes and turned his car around, not caring about the screech that sounded from his tires. After gunning the engine and careening around the corner, he sped through town, knowing exactly where she was. If she was not at the library or Greenleaf, not at Doris’s or Herbs, there was only one place she could be.
And he was right, for when he pulled onto the street where Rodney Harper lived, he saw her car parked in the drive.
Eight
Jeremy waited on the porch at Lexie’s house.
He had the key, he could have gone inside, but he didn’t want to. He wanted to sit on the step outside. Or, rather, seethe on the step outside. It was one thing to talk to Rodney, it was completely another to lie about it. And she had lied. She’d broken their dinner date, she’d called him on the phone and lied about her whereabouts. Lied to him directly.
He watched for her car, his jaw tight.
He really didn’t care what her excuse was. There was no excuse for something like this. All she’d had to do was tell him that she wanted to talk to Rodney, that she was worried about him, and he would have been okay with that. Not thrilled, mind you, but okay. So why all the secrecy?
This wasn’t the way things should be. This wasn’t the way she was supposed to treat him . . . or anyone she cared about, for that matter. And what if actions like these continued after they were married? Did he really want to spend his days wondering if she was really where she said she’d be?
No, no way. Not a chance. That wasn’t what marriage was supposed to be, and he hadn’t moved down here, hadn’t given up everything, to be deceived. She either loved him or she didn’t; it was as simple as that. And blowing off dinner with him so she could spend time with Rodney made it seem pretty obvious how she felt.
He didn’t care if they were friends, and he honestly didn’t care whether she thought she was just being supportive, either. All she’d had to do was tell the truth. That’s what this was about.
As angry as he was, he had to admit he was hurt as well. He’d come down here to share a life with Lexie, he’d moved here because of her. Not because of the baby, not because he had dreams of settling into a life with white-picket fences, not