“I want you to tell Rachel.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Then I will.”
“You don’t understand her.”
“I spoke to her.”
The silence lasted so long that I checked whether the call had disconnected.
“You what?” he whispered.
“I spoke to Rachel.”
“What did you tell her?”
“Not everything.”
“Why would you contact her?”
“Because she deserves to know who she married.”
Grant lowered his voice.
“Tessa, listen to me. Rachel is unstable.”
I tightened my grip on the steering wheel.
Tessa glanced toward the restaurant window, though she could not see me.
“How?”
“She has a temper. She twists things. If you tell her about us, she’ll ruin both our lives.”
“Us?”
“You know what I mean.”
“No, I don’t. You told me this was over.”
“It is.”
“Then why are you worried about my life?”
He did not answer.
Tessa pushed further.
“She already knows about the resort.”
“How?”
“I told her.”
A chair scraped.
Grant must have stood.
“You need to fix this.”
“How?”
“Tell her you made it up.”
“Why would I do that?”
“Because I can make this very difficult for you.”
The threat in his voice erased the last of my doubts.
Tessa had worried he might charm her again. I had feared I might remember the man I once loved and weaken.
Instead, he made the decision easy.
I entered the restaurant.
Grant saw me before I reached the table.
His face turned gray.
“Rachel?”
“Sit down.”
“What are you doing here?”
“I said sit down.”
Several diners looked toward us.
Grant lowered himself into the chair.
His gaze moved from me to Tessa and back again.
“You two planned this?”
I placed the prepaid phone on the table.
“You’ve been talking to me all week.”
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