Leah could barely see to drive home. Her mind was a tangle of thoughts and questions. How had Julian found this out? How could Caleb do this to her? How long had this been going on? Was this part of Julian’s plan to get to her? Who was this other woman, Eva, and why had Caleb bothered to have her move in if he was seeing someone else?

When she pulled into his driveway—she wouldn’t think of it as her place anymore—she slammed her car door and stormed inside. Caleb sat on the couch, relaxing and watching TV.

“Hey babe,” he said. “Tough night?”

“I know yours wasn’t,” she snapped, already shaking with what was about to happen.

“I’ve just been moving things out of the bedroom and getting ready to paint.”

“We’re not painting anything. We’re talking about this.”

She threw the folder at him. It landed in his lap, but several of the pages spilled out. He picked one up—a print out of texts between he and Eva—and his face fell into shock.

“What is this?” he asked.

“You tell me.” She opened the folder and held up the photo. “Eva somebody? Who is she? Why are you kissing her?”

He let out a slow breath and ran his fingers through his hair. “Look.”

“No, no. Tell me the truth. Are you screwing her?”

“I was. I did. But I ended it when I realized things were getting serious with you. Months ago. I love you. That’s why I asked you to move in with me.”

“So, you’re saying it’s over, it stopped months ago?”

“Yes. I am so, so sorry. I never meant to hurt you, and I will never do anything like this again.” He stood and walked toward her.

She held up her hand, and it was all she could do to keep from punching him. She opened the folder again and took out a different photo.

“So, you’re telling me that this photo of you wearing that shirt, standing right here, with that paint in the background, wasn’t today?”

She pointed out each thing in the room as she said it, noticing that someone must have taken the photo through the window in the living room. That creeped her out a little, but she didn’t have the mental space to think about that now.

He stared at the photo, moving his mouth like he was going to say something.

“Enough of the lies,” she said. “Did you fuck her today? Right here on our couch? Or in our bedroom on our bed? Does she know I moved in?”

“Today was the last time. She didn’t believe me when I said you moved in and that it was over. She came over so I could prove it to her.”

“And then you fucked her.”

“It was just a good-bye thing. I wouldn’t expect you to understand.”

“Understand?” She was screaming now, her voice hysterical with rage. “No, I don’t fucking understand why you feel the need to screw someone else while claiming to love me enough to have me move in here. I don’t understand that at all, no. What did I ever do to you to deserve this? What—”

“Nothing, I—”

“Were you thinking when you did this? I’m not enough for you? Having sex, like, every night wasn’t enough?”

“Leah, please. I love you, I—”

“Oh, no, don’t give me that ‘I love you’ bullshit. You don’t cheat on people you love. This is done. So done.”

“Please, no!” He dropped down to his knees and clasped his hands together, tears running down his face. “Forgive me. I’ll never do this again. I’m so sorry. I’m an idiot. I don’t want to screw this up. I love you, and I’ll do anything to make this right. Let me prove it to you. I love you so much, Leah. Marry me. That’s how much I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I’ll make it up to you every day for the rest of our lives.”

“Are you insane? I would never marry someone who would do this sort of thing.”

He crawled forward on his knees and grabbed her legs. “I’m sorry, please don’t leave, you’re the best thing that ever happened to me.”

“You have one messed up way of showing it. Good-bye, Caleb.”

She pulled back from him and ran to the door. As she got in her car, the sobs came. Her phone rang many times with Caleb’s number. She had to pull over, she was crying so hard.

She sat for a while and let the tears flow. There was nothing else to do in that moment. The pain suffocated her. She had wanted to marry Caleb. A week ago, his proposal would have been a dream come true. But tonight, after finding all this out? It was a joke. How could he think she’d marry him after something like this?

When she calmed down a bit, she realized she had a new problem. She had nowhere to go. She’d moved out of her place, and it was too late to bother any of her friends. She thought of Julian. He’d told her to call any time with anything.

Without thinking too much about it, she took out his card and called him.

“Leah?” he asked.

She didn’t stop to think about why he knew it was her number. “I’m sorry to call, but you said to if I needed anything.”

“I’m so glad you did. I’ll come to you, don’t move. Where are you? Are you okay?”

She sniffled hard. “I don’t think so. And I don’t know. I’m near his house. I had to pull over.”

“I’m in the car now. I’ll find you. What happened?”

“I confronted him and—and—” Fresh tears broke out and she couldn’t talk. She could hardly breathe.

“Okay. It’s okay, don’t try to tell me now. I see you.”

He got out of his car and opened her door for her. He held out his hand to help her up and put his arm around her to support her as she got into his car. She closed her eyes as he drove, minutes later pulling up to a huge mansion.

“Geez,” she said, looking up at it.

He took her inside and had her sit in the living room. “I kept my chef up. I bet you didn’t eat all night. What can he make you?”

“I don’t think I can eat.”

“Just a little something will make you feel much better. How about a melted cheese sandwich?”

Did he know she adored those and ate one whenever she was feeling down? The thought of the hot, melting cheese made her mouth water. She nodded.

He came back in the room a minute later with a glass of water. “Drink up.”

She drank several sips and blew her nose again. “It was so horrible. He tried to say he’d ended it months ago, but when I showed him the photo from today, he didn’t know what to say. He even proposed to me, how ridiculous is that?” She laughed humorlessly and shook her head.

Julian sat beside her and stroked her hair. She wanted to tell him to stop, but it felt so good. All she wanted right now was to feel loved and cared for. Even with all his jerkishness, at least Julian was good at that.

“It’s rather absurd,” he said. “I’m sorry.”

“Yeah. He kept saying that, too.” She smelled the cheese coming from the kitchen and her stomach growled loudly. “He’s so soooo sorry. Like that matters.”

“He can never undo what’s been done. That’s what makes it so hurtful. Nothing can fix it.”

“Right. Especially not a fucking proposal. What an idiot! What an asshole! And I thought you were an asshole. This whole time, I was with the biggest asshole on the planet.”

Julian gave her a half smile and stood to take the plate from his chef, who came into the room with a steaming cheese sandwich.

“I am an asshole, but I do it with respect and class.”

He set the plate down in front of her, and she was suddenly ravenous. She chewed so fast, she barely tasted it, but what she did taste was amazing.

“This is the best melted cheese sandwich I’ve ever had,” she said with a full mouth.

“I do have one of the best personal chefs in the country.”

“Give him a raise.”

He laughed. “If you knew what I pay him already, you wouldn’t say that.”

She swallowed the last bite and sat back into the couch, feeling much better.

“Would you like another? Or anything else? A glass of wine perhaps?”

She shook her head. “I’m so worn out from all this. I think I just need to get some sleep.”

“Let me show you to the guest room.”

“Right here is fine.” She lay down on the couch on her side, curled into a ball.

“Leah, I have several guest rooms. You’re not sleeping on the couch.”

He bent down and picked her up. She squealed in surprise, but didn’t protest. She was too tired to fight him. He carried her upstairs to a room with a huge bed covered in thick blankets. When he set her down, it was like lying on a fluffy cloud.

He leaned over her, stroking her hair back from her face again. “I’m so sorry for what he did to you.”

“Thank you for everything. Despite all this, I’m glad to know. I wouldn’t have wanted to find out years from now when we had a family.”

“Right. Doesn’t make it any easier now, though.”

“No.” She let out a jagged sigh.

“Do you need anything else?”

“You’ve already done so much for me. And that bracelet…” She teared up again thinking about it. When had anyone ever given her something so extravagant?

“It’s the least I could do.”

He held her gaze for a long moment. She felt her heart speed. She wanted him to kiss her. She swallowed hard and he leaned closer. But just before their lips could touch, she turned her head.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “It’s just too soon. I don’t want to feel like I’m doing the same thing to him that he did to me.”

“I understand.” Julian kissed her forehead, then walked to the door. “Anything you need, just ask.”