“A lot of my clients feel that exact same way. Women and men. They aren’t exactly happy in their marriages but there isn’t enough strife to end it. There’s still hope that they’ll find their way back to how they felt when they got together and married. They let things slide. They make excuses, like staying together for the kids. They don’t open up about how they’re feeling or what they want to change. Sometimes things just fizzle out and they end up here. Other times, someone finds what they need with someone else and they still end up here.”
“Is that why you never married?”
“I came close. Once.” But his ex felt like he’d been holding out on her. Maybe he had been, because he’d been carrying a torch for the woman in front of him for a long time. And the engagement with his ex ended right after he saw Sierra at her stepfather’s funeral.
Sierra showing up here and telling him about this situation made him feel guilty for keeping his secret, even though he didn’t know if what he saw was what he thought he saw.
“Mason?”
Jarred out of his thoughts, he met Sierra’s inquisitive eyes. “Yeah? What?”
“Do you think David was having an affair?”
“I’m not sure. But I have an investigator who can look into it. He can try to track the money.” But if the money led where Mason suspected, he didn’t know what he’d tell Sierra. The last thing he wanted to do was break her heart. Or lose her because he’d kept quiet about what he suspected.
Love blinds us all to people’s faults. When love fades, sometimes those flaws are all too clear.
He wished for Sierra’s sake that she could let David rest in peace with a clear heart.
Instead, she’d been left with suspicions and come to him to clear them up. Mason didn’t know if he could do that for her without wrecking the new, fragile feelings developing between them.
He should tell her what he suspected, but he didn’t want to accuse a dead man of something he couldn’t prove. David wasn’t here to speak for himself. And Sierra would only have Mason to take out her feelings of betrayal on, whether he was right or wrong.
“Thank you, Mason. This means so much to me. I’ve been sitting with this all alone for a long time. I wanted answers, I just wasn’t sure how to get them. If your investigator can find anything out for me, I’ll be so grateful.”
Mason suspected grateful was the last thing she’d be.
“I’d appreciate it if you kept this between us. My mom knows, but I don’t want my sisters to find out. David was your friend. I’m sure you’re not thrilled to be investigating him. But I need to know the truth.”
How did he get himself into this pickle?
Because he couldn’t say no to the woman sitting across from him. Because he wanted her to be happy. Because he’d let her get away once and wouldn’t let that happen again.
Investigating David and the money meant it might be that much harder to convince Sierra how much he cared.
“David and I knew each other a long time ago. I know he wasn’t perfect. He could be competitive.” And go after the girl Mason liked just to see who got her. He had a feeling David learned that winning didn’t mean you got what you wanted and he went looking for someone else without thinking about the devastation he’d leave in his wake. “Maybe all this is, is some kind of deal he made that went south and he had to pay back the money or something.”
Sierra dismissed that with a shake of her head. “I hoped so, too. But I’ve come to terms with the fact that I would have found some evidence of that in his papers. I looked for some business proposal or investment. I didn’t find anything.” She stared at their joined hands. “I think my intuition was telling me he had someone else and I just didn’t listen to it.”
“You’d be surprised how many wives say that same thing. You should listen to that gut instinct. I’ve found based on the number of women who come in here, it’s usually right.”
“Well, my gut’s telling me you’re not happy about doing this for me.”
He tried to smile but didn’t quite pull it off to ease her mind. “I’m afraid that uncovering the truth will only hurt you and that’s the