It takes a moment as he thinks that through. Unfortunately, the answer isn't the one that would make things better. "Yes." Richard is pretty sure that Alex really does believe it. She'd repeated it more than once; how John was because he wasn't here, how she thought Richard wouldn't love her, so Alex slept with him, how she'd done it because he'd mentioned Coralee the last time they'd been together. There had been too many repeats of the same belief for it to simply be a slip of the tongue. "There were, multiple times she implied the sentiment."

He frowned, finally taking a drink from the glass. "Alex and I are complicated, even at the best of times. And I don't expect anyone to understand, but she can be, irrational. It's highly likely that she believes that the reason is my fault." Isn't it often his fault? Her telling everyone about his past, his personal and private history which she knew he didn't want to be known had also been his fault for not being here. For not telling her not to say. Never mind the fact that she continued to do so even after he'd told and asked her to stop, several times.