Chapter 54

Explain To Me

Nathan was reeling from the confrontation of Haley and Rachel, actually it wasn't even a confrontation, Haley being the terrific person she was had been completely sweet Rachel even though she had every right to rip her apart. He couldn't believe Lucas would be so stupid to think that setting them up was a good idea, the idiot, he thought.

"Nate are you ok?", Rachel asked for the passenger seat.

"Fine", he spat.

"You are not fine", I can see the steam coming from your ears", she joked but Nathan stayed completely stone faced keeping his eyes on the road.

"Rachel, I'm fine, he snapped again. Please just let it go."

"Ok, she agreed ,but if you ever need to talk, I'm here for you."

The truth is something was bugging him, he did need to ask Rachel something that had him completely confused in his mind. When she initially saw Haley she acted completely oblivious to her being his wife, but Rachel had saw Haley before when she unexpectedly hid in the shadows of their wedding and reception.

"Actually, he said breaking the silence. Why did you act as if you never saw Haley before?, he questioned giving her a quick glance before focusing back on the road.

Rachel began scrambling, how did she explain this to him quickly without casting suspicion on herself.

" I just find it a little weird, Nathan continued, that you didn't know she was my wife ,when you attended the wedding and saw her."

"I did Nathan, but I was so upset that day, I didn't even really notice. Even though I saw her, I didn't, she lied. You could have married big bird and I wouldn't have noticed."

Accepting her answer he continued to drive serious drained of the whole day. The whole Rachel/Haley thing with them knowing each other was eating at him so much he had to further question Rachel.

"Haley and you met before right?", he asked.

"Yeah, she answered. We were both having lunch in some small over crowed café, so we decided to share a table together ."

"You said you talked about me. What did you talk about?", he asked.

"She just told me how she was having major problems with her husband."

"Problems with her husband?"

"Yep, she said how she thought she had made a terrible mistake marrying him", she lied.

Nathan didn't know what to say. Had she really thought marrying him was a mistake.

"I'm sure she didn't mean it , Nate. She was just upset. We all say things we don't mean when we are angry or upset", she said to Nathan who seemed to be in deep thought.

"Did my name come up?", he asked.

"Husband actually, Haley corrected. Nathan's my husband.

Rachel stared out of the window knowing this could be the final nail in the coffin for Haley and Nathan. Sighing deeply she faced Nathan giving her best sympathetic look before answering.

"I'm so sorry, Nate, it didn't. Not even once, which I found a little weird considering we had a whole conversation about you. I guess your marriage didn't mean as much to her as it did to you", she said rubbing his shoulder.

Nathan felt awful as he continued driving. Haley didn't even mention his name. Maybe she really did regret everything they had shared together, he couldn't say he blamed her though. He caused her so much hurt and pain he wouldn't have been surprised if she never ever wanted to see his cheating face again for the rest of her days on this earth.

Rachel sat with her face completely opposite of Nathan as she was sure she had firmly planted all doubt of Haley's love for Nathan is his mind. He was almost hers completely, she knew it. It was just a matter of time. That thought alone had her sneakily smiling as she watched the passing trees as Nathan continued to drive her home.

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