Chapter 14: Tessa

                                    

                                          
My mind cannot stop reeling from what Lucy just told me. I am trying to have a fun night, and then that bitch has to come and spew lies out of her mouth. How dare she come up to me, knowing what the fuck she tried to do with Hardin, and lie to my face. As time passes though, the more I think she may be right. I don't want her to be, but she knew a lot of personal shit that only Hardin could've told her. Was he really that disappointed in me throughout all my pregnancy issues? Was he that upset that I refused to marry him? Was he really losing his patience with me? and most importantly, why did he tell Lucy all of this crap instead of me?
                          
Kim has been talking to Christian for a while now, and I can tell Nora doesn't really know what to say to me. She knows what I am thinking, and I think she's thinking the same.
                          
"Do you think he would say those things about me? Truthfully?" I turn to Nora after minutes of silence between us.
                          
She opens her mouth to speak, but then shuts it. "No... I don't."
                          
"What do you think she meant by stuff he did when we were separated..." I feel like I'm going to throw up thinking about Hardin possibly being with another woman. "You don't think he was... he was with anyone else?"
                          
"No, Tessa." She takes my hands in hers, avoiding eye contact, which is a sign that she isn't being truthful.
                          
"Nora, come on... honestly."
                          
She takes a big breath, and I can see an internal debate happening in her eyes. "Honestly." She finally says.
                          
"What if he was?" Hardin and I talked about what we did during our time apart, but never in extensive detail. I am pretty sure I remember him mentioning never being with anyone else, but I don't even know. I wouldn't blame him... two years of being apart is a long time to be celibate. Even though we did see each other in that time frame, he still could've done something... I don't fucking know.
                          
"I wouldn't think like that, Tessa. Hardin... Hardin..." She is trying to form words to make me feel better, but deep down I think even Nora knows that this is something Hardin would do. No matter how much better Hardin has gotten since I first met him, he continues to make mistakes, and maybe he just trusted Lucy more than his own girlfriend. Hardin isn't the one to tell a group of strangers about our problems, so the only way for her to know all this shit about my life is if Hardin told her personally.
                          
"Let's just drop it." I stop Nora from attempting to console me. She has said all she needs to say by her lack of words. It must be true...
                          
I feel tears spring to my eyes, but thankfully I am able to keep them from showing by pinching my arm.
                          
Kim runs back frantically. "We need to go." She gathers her purse.
                          
"What's going on?" Nora gathers her stuff as well, and I slip on my coat.
                          
"It's Hardin, he's in the hospital. He had an appendectomy, and he should be getting out of surgery soon. Landon is coming to pick us up, so we need to go."
                          
Surprisingly, the news of Hardin being in the hospital doesn't hit me as hard as it should. Lucy's words are overpowering my sense of worry for him, and I just feel nothing as Kim tells me about Hardin getting surgery.
                          
"Tessa, come on!" Nora nudges my arm when I make no movement to gather my things, but I snap out of the funk that I'm in momentarily to head outside with them.
                          
We are freezing our asses off waiting outside of this club. Thankfully, Nora and Kim didn't have that much to drink, so it's not like I have to worry about either of them being too drunk to even function.
                          
"Christian said Landon should be here any minute, and he'll take us to the hospital."
                          
I nod, shivering from the harsh weather. Hardin's coat is keeping me warm enough, but it's not as comforting to wear it as it was two hours ago. I wonder if he let Lucy wear this coat all those years ago. They met when he first moved to the city with me, and he was still going to AA meetings. All of this was before we even bought a home in Brooklyn together; we were living in my Manhattan apartment that Landon just recently moved out of since he got married. We compromised that if he would continue to go to therapy, I would let him move in with me. Like I've said before, our relationship once we got back together wasn't amazing. We had a lot of issues we needed to resolve, and the honeymoon phase of just being with one another after two long years of separation didn't last too long.