“That was a long time ago. I’ve changed. She’s changed me.”
“So why couldn’t you change for me?” Melissa cried.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” He sounded almost tender. It made her heart ache. “For everything.”
Another sob from Melissa. “I just can’t get over what happened. No matter how much I try. And I do try. I do. I was so happy then. Before we lost her.”
“I should have been there for you and I wasn’t. None of this was your fault.” She could almost picture him, wringing his hands.
Lawrence shifted next to her, his beanpole body a few inches from hers. If he touched her, she thought she might scream.
“Do you think about her?” Melissa whispered.
Daniel cleared his throat. “Of course I do.”
Becca could feel the heat of Lawrence’s gaze on her face. She turned to look at him. There was a cruel smile pulling at his lips. “She lost a baby at twenty weeks,” he told her. “And he wasn’t there for Melissa. By the time he made it back and to the hospital, it was over.”
“A baby?”
“Their baby. She was pregnant with their child. A time for celebration, you’d think? But not for Daniel. He was too busy trying to prove himself to take care of his girlfriend.” He sounded almost pleased about that.
Becca’s chest felt like it was going to explode. Daniel had lost a child and he hadn’t told her? Her eyes stung with tears. She blinked them back, knowing Lawrence was enjoying this. Like a vampire, he fed off her.
“You didn’t know, did you?”
Becca ignored him, trying to catch her breath.
“I wonder why he didn’t tell you,” Lawrence mused. “I guess there’s only one way to find out.” He leaned across Becca and she almost jumped out of his way, watching with horror as his long fingers curled around the door handle, the hinges creaking as he pushed it open for them both to look in.
Daniel was standing in the center of the room, next to the table where they’d played cards. Melissa’s tear-ridden face rested on his chest, her body shaking as she cried. Her hands clutched at Daniel’s shirt, bunching the cotton against her palms.
It took them a moment to realize they were being watched. But when they both looked up, Daniel’s eyes darkened as he saw them standing in the doorway.
Becca had to curl her fingers around the doorjamb to stop herself from sinking to the floor. Her legs trembled beneath her, her breath caught in her throat. All she could think was that Daniel had lost a child and never told her.
She lifted her hand to her mouth in shock.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“Becca, wait!” Daniel called out, as she stepped backward, her fingers reluctantly releasing her hold on the doorjamb.
She shook her head, not because she was answering him, but because she couldn’t think straight. Maybe movement would help, because right now everything felt blank. She didn’t run. She walked. Down the hallway and to the stairs, her blood pounding in her ears as she took them one riser at a time in her pretty shoes. Only an hour ago she’d walked down them, feeling so damn happy in his arms.
And now all she wanted to do was curl up and cry.
“Wait.” It was a command. She could hear his breath as he ran up the stairs to catch up with her. “That wasn’t what you think.”
“What do I think?” Her voice was stretched thin. Maybe he knew, because she sure as hell didn’t.
“I’m not having an affair with Melissa. There’s nothing going on.”
“I know.” She’d reached the top of the stairs. Daniel was a step behind her, his breath caught, his face creased into a frown.
“Then why did you run?”
“Because...” She sighed heavily. She wasn’t ready to put her feelings into words yet. They were too strong, too painful. “I just need to be alone.”
“No.” He shook his head almost frantically. “I need you to talk to me. What’s going on?”