A Sweethaven Summer (28 page)

“Do you want to tell me what you’re doing in town?”

“I just got here this afternoon. I had a few things to take care of.”

“What could you possibly have to take care of in Sweethaven? Don’t you think maybe your wife should be a priority? You haven’t answered my calls since I left.”

“Do you have any water?”

She narrowed her eyes at him but didn’t answer. Then she rifled through her purse and produced a water bottle.

He opened the bottle and drained half of it in seconds.

“How are you?” He stared at her, expecting a response. It had been months—maybe years—since she’d seen the sincerity she saw now. She’d missed that. Tom’s genuineness had been part of what attracted her to him in the first place. He didn’t act like the spoiled rich kids she knew. He’d always been his own man.

When she said nothing, he cleared his throat. “We need to talk.”

Her heart sank, and her stomach churned. Had he come to tell her it was over? Hand her divorce papers and be done with it?

“Lila?”

Her whirling mind had prevented a response. “Okay.”

She straightened her shoulders and lifted her chin.
Remember who you are
.

After meeting her eyes for a brief moment, he looked away.

She shifted. Tension hung in the air.

“What do you want to talk about?” She tried to keep her voice light, but the depth of her fear surprised her.

“When I came back from my run, you were gone.” Tom picked at the wrapper on the side of his water bottle.

“I know. I’m sorry for that. I should’ve left a note.” She looked down at the oversized diamond that sparkled on her left hand. An upgrade from her first wedding ring. Tom had bought it for her after his last promotion. Silly how she thought a bigger ring said something about them as a couple. She knew now the size of the diamond said nothing about the depth of their love.

“No, I shouldn’t have gone running. I knew you were upset by the letter.” He shook his head. “I needed to clear my head.”

“It’s been good to see Adele and Jane again. And I met Suzanne’s daughter.” Lila swept her long hair back behind her shoulders. “But I guess you met her too.” She exhaled.

He didn’t say anything.

“I think we may’ve had a breakthrough in the search for her father.” Lila filled the silence with small talk. Anything to pretend her marriage was still intact.

“What do you mean?”

“We found something in the scrapbook that made us think maybe Suzanne and Mark Davis had a secret fling that summer.” “It wasn’t Mark Davis.”

Lila’s heart pounded in her ears, and her throat went dry. “So if it wasn’t Mark, then who was it?”

Tom took a deep breath and then exhaled. He looked down at his folded hands in front of him. The color drained from his face. “I’m sorry.” The words came out in a whisper.

Lila’s mind spun. Her pulse quickened, and a wave of nausea settled in her stomach. She finally found her voice, but an eerie calm had come over her. Just like Mama. “You’ve been lying to me for twenty-five years. You said you’d never been with anyone else.” She looked at him then through clouded eyes. The pain on his face matched the pain in her heart.

How could he do this to her? Had he loved Suzanne?

She fought the tears, the rage, the emotions that warred inside her.

“I didn’t lie about knowing she was pregnant. At first, I didn’t know. You told me.”

“I’m still trying to figure out how you and Suzanne—” She couldn’t finish the sentence. “How did I not see it?”

“You and I were so new. We’d only been dating a month. It just…happened.”

“Save it, Tom,” Lila spat. “I don’t need your excuses.” She stared in the opposite direction.

“Lila, I’m sorry.”

Tears stung her eyes. Her stomach felt hollow, and her palms were wet. For a moment, her own body betrayed her and she couldn’t find a breath.

“She loved you,” she whispered.

“No. We weren’t in love.” Tom’s eyes pleaded for understanding, filled with tears at his admission.

“You’re wrong, Tom. She did love you. Campbell found journal entries about the time you two spent on the dock.” Lila felt torn between wanting to read them for herself and wanting to burn them so no one would ever discover her humiliation. “Our whole marriage is a lie.”

Her hands rested in her lap, but she couldn’t feel them. Couldn’t feel her feet on the ground or the legs connected to them. She’d
gone completely numb. But the numbness had evaded her heart. She could feel every nick of pain inside.

“No. It’s not.” Tom moved over next to her. “It’s not. You are the one I loved. That’s why when I found out about Campbell, I begged Suzanne not to tell you. Not to tell anyone.”

“Did she come to you?” Had Suzanne tried to trap him or get him to leave Lila?

He groaned. “Not exactly. It was the summer that you and I got engaged. We were here, in Sweethaven, but you were caught up with wedding plans, and I knew Suzanne wouldn’t be back again that year. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I needed to find out for sure. So, I called her.”

“You called her.” Lies piled on top of lies. She fought the urge to stop him, teetering between needing to know the full story and desperately wanting to stay oblivious.

“After I found out about the pregnancy, I wondered, but I kept convincing myself there was no way. I mean, she would’ve called and told me, right? I pushed it out of my mind, but then we got engaged. If we were going to get married, I needed to know for sure. I had to do some digging, but I found her number and asked her if we could meet.”

Lila didn’t know if she should be angrier with him or with herself. She’d been so self-absorbed she hadn’t even bothered to look for Suzanne’s number, and they’d been good friends. But knowing her husband had taken time to locate Suzanne and then called her—only months before their wedding—stung like a Band-Aid being ripped from damaged skin without warning.

“I met her at a park. She had Campbell with her. She had just turned two.” Tom’s eyes glossed over at the memory. “I didn’t even have to ask if she was mine. I could tell by the look on Suzanne’s face.”

Lila shook her head and closed her eyes—more to keep the tears from falling than anything else.

“We talked for a few minutes, and I apologized to her. She said they were doing really well. Left her parents’ house and moved in with a cousin or friend or something.”

“You don’t even know? You didn’t care where your own daughter was living?” Lila chose shame. She’d shame him and make him feel small. Make him feel like every move he’d made had been the wrong one.

“I did.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “I told her I could help—with money.”

Lila’s eyes widened.

“I told her we were engaged and that I loved you and if you found out about any of it, you’d leave. She said she’d carry the secret to the grave.” He paused. “And she did. I never thought she would. I thought she’d at least tell Campbell.” His voice quivered as he mentioned Suzanne’s daughter by name.
His
daughter.

“She didn’t get a chance,” Lila said.

Lila’s fingers turned to ice. Suzanne had kept Tom’s secret to spare Lila. She hated the realization, but she knew it was true. Even through her own pain, Suzanne had loved her. And she’d done nothing to deserve that kind of love.

“I started sending her money. I figured it was the least I could do. In exchange, she agreed to keep it all a secret.” He stilled. “But I’ve spent the last twenty years expecting her to show up on our doorstep.”

He almost sounded relieved.

“How lovely. The two of you had a secret.” Hatred filled her voice, but Lila knew her anger only masked the devastating pain of his betrayal.

“I did it for us, don’t you see that? To give us a chance.” Tom’s eyes pleaded with her.

“You slept with someone else for us? You had the baby that
we
always wanted with someone else for us?” Her voice sounded shrill in her own ears. She stood.

“Lila, wait.”

She turned to face him. “What do you want?” She tried to sound firm. Angry. But inside, her heart had broken. Sorrow overtook her, but she couldn’t let on how desperately she didn’t want to lose him. It would only make her weak.

“The same thing I’ve always wanted. You.” His face fell, and even in the moonlight, she could see the pain behind his eyes. “Tell me what to do. I’ll do whatever it takes. I just don’t want to lose you.”

He hadn’t been this persistent since the beginning of their relationship. They’d both grown so accustomed to each other, they stopped seeing how special the other one was.

But it was too late to romanticize what they used to have.

Lila took a step closer and forced herself to hold in the tears—just for a few more minutes. “We need to keep this between us for now.”

Tom shook his head. “No. I came to make things right. With you
and
with Campbell.”

Lila’s jaw tightened. She put a hand on his cheek and gently kissed his lips. One last time. “Good-bye.” She hoped that would be enough to convince him to keep this nonsense to himself.

She turned around, concentrated on the clicking of her heels on the pavement, held her head high.
Remember who you are, Lila
. Her mother’s words rang in her mind.

Remember who you are
.

She refused to look back as her greatest fear washed over her.

Lila Adler Olson was undeniably alone.

The gallery buzzed with excitement, and in spite of the compliments and great reception, Campbell couldn’t concentrate on the show. Lila’s husband stood outside on the street looking dejected. This was her fault. She’d done this to them. They were breaking up because of her. She practically lunged at Jane and Adele when she spotted them.

“I found him.” Campbell’s tone sounded detached—emotionless.

Jane’s expression changed as she glanced around the room. “You did? Where?”

She hesitated. Finding her father hadn’t come without a price. “Lila’s husband.”

Adele gasped. “Tom?”

“He’s here.”

Jane’s expression went bleak as she pieced it together. “It makes so much sense now,” she said. “If Suzanne had fallen for Tom after he and Lila already started dating, she knew it would separate the four of us. Lila would’ve demanded we choose sides. So Suzanne left, hoping that would hurt less.” She shook her head. “And she couldn’t tell us who the father was after we found out about the pregnancy because Tom and Lila were really serious by then. I can’t believe it.” Jane stopped and sighed. “Is Lila here?”

Campbell averted her eyes. “I think she left.”

Jane took both Campbell’s hands in her own. “I may not be able to stay real late tonight. I have a feeling my friend needs me.”

“I understand.”

“But for you, I am thrilled. You have your answer. You have a father.”

Campbell smiled. She’d gotten her answer, but at what cost? Ruining Lila’s marriage was exactly what her mother didn’t want to happen. It seemed like Campbell had been tearing people apart ever since she was conceived.

“If it’s any consolation, I don’t think they were doing very well to begin with.” Jane stood beside her.

“It’s my fault, Jane. I never should’ve come here.”

“Then we wouldn’t know each other. You wouldn’t have this wildly successful showing or that handsome man standing back there, waiting until he can have you all to himself.” She glanced at Luke, who kept one eye on Campbell as he mixed and mingled with the Sweethaven crowd. “He checks up on you. Like Lloyd Dobler.”

Campbell frowned.

Jane looked horrified. “You have seen
Say Anything
, haven’t you? I’m getting so old.”

Campbell laughed. “Of course. My mom and I watched it together.”

“That makes me so happy.”

After a beat of silence, Campbell shook her head slowly. “I never should’ve come here. This is going to ruin everything.”

Adele wagged her finger at Campbell. “It’s not your fault that your mama fell for her best friend’s boyfriend. It’s not your fault you wanted to meet your daddy. It’s not your fault you found him. Do you hear?”

But Campbell could see by the look on Adele’s face that this
situation had her every bit as worried as it had Campbell. Neither of them wanted to hurt Lila. Lila and Jane were her mom’s friends—her friends now. She couldn’t betray them like that.

Jane’s expression turned serious. “Don’t be sorry you came here, Campbell. I have a feeling this is just the beginning.” Jane wrapped her arm around her and squeezed her tight. “Sometimes we all need a little kick to force ourselves to deal with our stuff. In case I don’t see you later, let’s plan to meet at the café tomorrow, after the memorial. What do you think?”

Campbell nodded. “Sounds good.”

She spotted Tom Olson looking at a painting, but his thoughts seemed far away.

“I’ll be right back.”

Jane took Campbell’s hand and squeezed it, and Adele offered her a firm nod.

Campbell approached Tom, but when he didn’t register that she was nearby, she wondered what to do. Should she say “dad”?” Instead, she cleared her throat, jarring him from his thoughts.

“Lila didn’t know, did she?” Campbell asked. Judging by the expression she’d seen on the woman’s face, Tom’s admission had certainly come as a surprise. Surely Lila had been in the dark—she wouldn’t have sent her to Mark Davis on purpose.

The humiliation of that moment returned and Campbell forced the memory away.

“No. I just told her.” His eyes remained on the painting.

Campbell stared at the floor. “I’m sorry.”

He sighed a heavy sigh. “Don’t be. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“The money—that was you?”

He nodded.

“You didn’t have to do that.”

“I had to do something.” Sadness filled his face. “I didn’t know about you until after Lila and I got engaged. I’m not proud of the way I handled it. I was a jerk, Campbell. I told your mom I’d buy her a house and give her money, but only if she didn’t tell Lila.”

Campbell looked away, fighting tears.

“She wasn’t going to tell Lila anyway, but her not telling you—I think that was because she didn’t want to subject you to me. I think I really hurt her that day. I’ve always regretted it.”