Her Husband's Other Life novel · Chapter 20 of 24

Chapter 20: The Lake Cottage

The cottage sat at the end of a gravel lane on the far side of the lake, with one lamp on in the window and a woodstove already lit.

"My grandmother's," Nate said, unlocking the door. "Nobody else has the key."

"Allie's on shift. Ross knows the Linden Street address." I stood on the porch with my arms wrapped around me. "I'm not asking you for this."

"I know."

"I'm telling you I want it."

He looked at me for a long moment with the porch light on his face.

"Then come in," he said.

Inside, it smelled of cedar and wood smoke.

I sat on a quilt-covered couch, and he knelt to feed the stove, and I told him what Ross had said on the bench.

I told him all of it, the lucky and the patient and the garage.

He listened with his back to me and his hands steady on the iron door.

"I thought I was lucky anybody stayed," I said. "For five years. Four of them sick and crying and useless."

"You weren't useless."

"You've seen me, Nate. You saw me at the clinic. You've seen me throw up in your gravel." I laughed, and it came out wet. "You've seen the worst of it."

He closed the stove door and turned around.

"I've seen you walk into a room full of people who wanted you to be small, and say the fund's name out loud." His voice was low. "I've seen you eat a bowl of plain pasta and nearly cry over it."

"That's not the worst."

"Then I haven't seen the worst, and I still want to." He came and sat on the arm of the couch. "I'm not here because you're lucky. I'm here because I'd rather be wherever you are."

I looked up at him.

"I've been afraid of something too," Nate said. "That you see a man with a truck and a notebook, and nothing else."

← Chapter 19 · All chapters · Chapter 21 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend