Vanessa hesitated.
“My mother says he’s staying with someone else.”
“Another woman?”
She nodded.
“I found out last week that he’s engaged.”
I stared at her.
“Already?”
“Her name is Claire.”
Within minutes, we found his public engagement announcement online.
There was Nathan, smiling broadly beside a beautiful woman wearing a sparkling diamond ring.
The caption read:
**“Can’t wait to begin our forever.”**
I turned the phone toward Vanessa.
“Does this man buy his promises in bulk?”
She laughed unexpectedly.
Then started crying.
I handed her a napkin.
“Listen, Vanessa. We’re not friends.”
“I know.”
“But Lily is asking the same questions Joel asked five years ago.”
She nodded.
“Neither of them deserves this.”
Vanessa looked at me carefully.
“What are you suggesting?”
I leaned forward.
“That Nathan finally takes responsibility for the children he keeps leaving behind.”
***
We spent the next hour comparing what Nathan had told each of us.
