Chapter 32: Chapter 32

After Bree left, Trent sat on the beach for at least a half an hour or more staring out at the ocean, thinking about what Bree had said. He’d have to head back to the room and talk to Monica eventually. He had no idea how that conversation was going to go, but he had a feeling she’d deny everything, even with the pictures right in front of her face.

He’d had an idea she was sneaking around with someone, but he didn’t know it was Hank. He never would’ve thought Hank could do anything like that to him. Granted, he did meet Monica first. They had slept together before he started dating Monica--though Trent didn’t know that at the time, or he never would’ve gone out with her in the first place.

There were a lot of things that would’ve prevented him from dating Monica in the first place if he had known about them before he’d finally consented to go out with her. She’d been so persistent, though. He’d been flattered to have such a beautiful woman interested in him. Now, he was thinking none of it was for the right reasons. But what were her reasons? Would he ever know for sure?

If Trent was going to call this entire wedding off, though, it had to be for a good reason. The fact that Monica was sleeping with Hank was a lot more legitimate in his mind than the possibility that Bree might actually want to be with him. He had heard what she’d said before she left, and he wanted to believe that she meant it, that she wanted to be with him, but it was almost too good to be true. After all of these years, for her to admit that she’d wanted to be with him all along was sort of like finding out that the sky was actually green. He couldn’t process it.

His phone was ringing. It was Hank. Trent had a feeling he’d put things together and realized that Bree had swiped the photos and that she was going to tell him. How could Trent marry a woman standing next to a best man who’d been sleeping with the bride while a woman sang a song about how she was in love with the groom? It was like one of those soap operas his mom used to watch, only not quite as believable.

Rather than answering the phone, he put it in his pocket and watched a pair of seagulls circling in the air above the turquoise waters. It would’ve been peaceful under other circumstances. But the paradise he was surrounded by was about to get ugly in ways he knew he couldn’t even imagine.

With a deep breath, Trent stood up, dusted the sand off of his shorts, and pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Monica? Hey. What are you up to?”

“I’m resting, trying to make sure I don’t have any bags under my eyes when I go to get my makeup done before the rehearsal dinner. What are you doing? I heard you left golf early. Are you all right?”

“Not exactly. Do you mind if I come by your room? I need to talk to you about something.”

“God, Trent. You sound upset. You’re scaring the hell out of me. What’s going on?” He could practically hear her eyes rolling as she asked the question.

“I’d rather talk to you about it in person. I’ll be there in a few minutes, okay?”

“Okay. I love you.” Her tone was sweet and innocent and made him wonder if the pictures on his phone were real.

“I love you, too,” Trent said, and he did mean it, but he wasn’t sure the love he felt for Monica was all that it should be, and if it was true that she really was sleeping with Hank while she was engaged to him, how could he do anything but call the wedding off?

Not knowing where he was headed, he took off down the path toward Monica’s room, certain wherever the road led, it would be full of tough decisions that could end with him in a completely different place than where he imagined he’d be this time tomorrow.

Monica opened the door wearing a long, white nightgown made of silk, her dark hair hanging down past her shoulders, her makeup perfect, and her expression innocent. “Hi, babe,” she said, stepping aside so Trent could come in. “What’s going on?”

He took a deep breath and crossed into the room, thinking the threshold was a point of no return he couldn’t go back from. “I have something important to talk to you about, Monica, and I need the truth from you, okay?”

She studied him for a moment, her eyes narrowed before she nodded. “Okay. What’s going on?” She gave a nervous laugh, and Trent ran his hands down his face as she sat down on the sofa.

He didn’t feel like sitting. He wanted to pace, possibly flail his hands irrationally. But he needed to keep his head on straight, so he sat down a good two feet from her, folded his hands, and breathed deeply. “Monica, it’s come to my attention that you might be… seeing someone else. Behind my back.”

An eyebrow lifted and she studied him carefully for several moments before she said. “Who told you that?”

“That’s your response? Not a denial?”

“No, of course, I’ll deny it. I just wonder who in the world would dare say something like that to you. Who would dare stick their nose into our business and make up such awful lies? Was it Hank? Was it when he was drunk last night? You know how he gets when he’s drinking.”

Trent couldn’t possibly sell Bree out. If he told Monica it was her, she’d lose it, and Bree didn’t need Monica’s wrath in her life right now, even if she was right. “It doesn’t matter who told me. What I want to know is why you’re not being honest with me now. Monica, I can tell when you’re not being completely honest. Your upper lip tightens. Are you saying you’ve never slept with anyone else since we’ve been seriously dating?”

She ran a hand through her hair and scratched her head, and Trent’s heart melted. He knew what that meant. She had cheated on him. “All right. I’ll be honest, Trent. It’s true. I did sleep with someone else. But it only happened once. We were both drunk, and it was a long time ago, back when you and I first started dating. I’m so sorry, baby. But believe me, it meant nothing. And I wanted to tell you. But I didn’t want you to be mad at him.”

Trent’s mind was swimming. He leaned his head back on the top of the couch and stared up at the ceiling, trying to get his head to stop spinning in circles. At least she’d told him the truth. She hadn’t denied it, at least not for long.

Monica’s thin fingers wrapped around his wrist. Her hand was cold. It was always cold. When she touched his hand, he never felt that warm excitement, that tingling sensation, he’d noted earlier when Bree’s hand had been in his.

“Believe me, Trent, I’ve regretted that day since it happened. There’s been so many times I wanted to come clean. But I thought it would just hurt you.”

He looked at her. “Because it was Hank or because it was you?”

“Both! He’s supposed to be your best friend. He should’ve never put me in that situation. I mean, I do take responsibility. I also made a horrible choice. If I hadn’t been with him before you and I started dating, I never would’ve even considered it.”

“I thought you said you were drunk.”

“Yeah, I was. But I think it was because he was so familiar that made me lose my mind. I’m so very sorry, baby.” Tears started rolling down her cheeks. “Please, please don’t call the wedding off. I know it was wrong. It’ll never happen again. God, if you were to call things off now, it would be so embarrassing. For both of us.”

“Is that the only reason you don’t want me to call the wedding off, Monica? Because you’ll be embarrassed?”

Her face went white. “No, of course not. I love you, and I want to be with you. I just meant… I can’t even fathom you ever walking away from me. I know we can work this out. But please don’t call off the wedding while we figure things out. Trent, I love you so much. More than anything. Please, believe me.”

He opened his mouth to argue with her, but no words came out, and Monica took the opportunity to kiss him. Pushing her off was more complicated than it should’ve been. She deepened the kiss, and Trent wrapped his arms around her.

Believing her was the easy thing to do. It was the straight and narrow path, with no twists or turns, no steep hills to climb, no treacherous drop offs. But he needed some time to think.

Putting his hands on her shoulders, he pushed her back slightly and freed his mouth. “I need to go think this over, Monica.”

The tears were back now. “Are you sure?”

He nodded and stood before she had a chance to kiss him again. “I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

“Before the rehearsal?”

“Yes.” Trent walked to the door, his hands in his pockets, hoping he could sort all of this out before the rehearsal dinner because it seemed like a further waste of everyone’s time to practice for a wedding that wasn’t going to take place.