Page 89 of Until Nalia

“I saw your phone,” I whisper as her tears soak through the thin material of my swimsuit cover-up.

“I can’t believe him.”

“Cat mentioned that you saw him on that site before.”

“Yeah,” she chokes out, “right after he moved in with Mom.”

“Can I ask why you were on there?” I’m not sure that right now is the time to bring that question up, but it worries me that she’s on an adult dating site.

“My friend Tori’s older sister found her dad on there when he was married to her mom, so we all started looking as a joke.” She lets me go and takes a seat on the edge of the tub. “I didn’t really think I’d find Aaron, but I did.”

“Okay.” I put down the seat on the toilet and sit down.

“When I found him, I was mad, but then he wasn’t on there anymore, so I’ve been thinking that maybe I was wrong, and it was just a mistake.” She shakes her head. “But Tori just sent me a link to his dating profile when we were outside, and some of the photos he used were taken at my mom's house, so they had to be uploaded recently. Right?”

“Maybe?” I hand her some more tissue.

“My mom loves him.” She drops her eyes from mine. “Like, really loves him, I can’t tell her what he’s doing.”

“No, you can’t,” I agree. “But your mom needs to know what is going on.” If I were her, I’d want to know that the man I moved into my house and had around my kids was on a dating site looking for other women. And if he’s hooked up with anyone else while they have been together, he’s putting her in danger, which is absolutely horrible to think about. “I’ll talk to your dad about it.”

“No.” She shakes her head.

“Honey,” I say gently. “Sh…”

“What if he thinks I did this?” she cuts me off. “What if he thinks that I’m just trying to get my mom to leave Aaron so that he and Mom will get back together?”

“Are you?” I ask not thinking that she is, and she sits back.

“No, and…” She shakes her head, “My dad is like totally obsessed with you, so that wouldn’t even work.”

“I wasn’t worried about that,” I tell her honestly. “But your parents are friends, and if I were your mom, I’d want a friend to be the one to tell me what’s going on.”

“I guess you’re right,” she says as there is a knock on the door. I start to get up to answer it, but it’s pushed open slightly and Logan pokes his head inside. When he sees that Billie is crying, he frowns and looks at me.

“What happened?”

“We need to talk,” I tell him, getting to my feet.

“What happened?” he repeats, looking at Billie.

“She’s fine.” I open the closet, grab a wash rag, and run it under cold water. Once it’s drenched, I pass it to her. “Hold this against your face for a few minutes to take away the redness, then go back out to Cat. I’m sure she’s worried about you.”

“Okay,” she whispers, avoiding looking at her dad.

“Come on.” I push Logan out of the bathroom then grab his bicep and lead him through the living room. When we get outside, I walk him towards the barn where I know it’s quiet and we can talk without being interrupted.

“All right tell me what’s going on,” he says, looking down at me and I let out a breath as I try to come up with a way to explain things. “Nalia,” he bites out, and I glare at him.

“Relax.”

“Relax? I just found you and my daughter locked away in the bathroom, and she was bawling.” His jaw goes hard. “Is she pregnant?”

“Oh my god,” I gasp. “No.”

“Then what the fuck happened?” He crosses his arms over his chest as he stares down at me. If I didn’t know him like I do, I would be seriously intimidated.

“Billie found Aaron on a dating app.”