her husband and sister got along so well, especially since Heather, as the youngest, wasn’t often included in her and Amy’s outings growing up. The age gap meant she couldn’t hang out at the bar with them.
“But you saw the closeness between them.”
“I saw a woman flirting with your husband. I expected David to brush it off, take a step back, and go inside to be with you.”
“But that’s not what happened.”
“Heather may have been flirting, but David’s the one who took her hand and tugged, coaxing her to leave with him. They started walking across the yard together. Away from the house and the others milling around on the back porch and garden area. Heads together, talking, laughing, they disappeared around the back of the house out toward the pond.”
“And the shed out there.” Dede had allowed her girls to turn it into a fort of sorts when they were teens. They had a mini fridge, a large rug where they used to sleep in their sleeping bags and tell ghost stories all night, and an old worn leather sofa. It was their hideaway just inside the woods, shaded by trees, and just rustic enough for them to feel like they were in their own world.
And Heather turned it into a lovers’ hideaway with her husband.
“I couldn’t follow them without making it obvious.”
“So you’re not sure what really happened.”
“I suspected, so I waited for them to return. When I saw them, I knew by the looks on their faces, the way they touched hands, trying to make sure no one saw. The way she brushed her hand down her thigh to smooth her skirt and over her hair. David scanned the whole yard, looking to be sure you weren’t out there, seeing him return with Heather. I saw the guilt. But I couldn’t be sure what he was guilty of. A stolen kiss? More?”
“But you suspected you knew exactly what was going on.”
“Yes. And it turned my stomach to watch him go back inside to you and act like nothing happened. He said something to you and you smiled at him. Heather glared at the two of you from across the room.”
“After all that, you still didn’t think to tell me something?”
“David accused me once when we were all out together of being jealous.”
She understood. “He knew you liked me.”
“I don’t know how I managed to hide it from you all the time, but David saw it. Maybe it’s a guy thing. We tend to have radar for other men looking at our girlfriend or wife.”
“Do you remember telling Amy that you wanted to tell me how you felt?”
“Of course. I wanted you to know so bad, but she said you were happy with David. You loved him. Telling you would do me no good and probably end our friendship. I didn’t want that. I wanted you to be happy.”
“I get that, but you should know she also didn’t tell you what I told her about you.”
He took a step closer, his eyes narrowed with confusion and anger. “What do you mean?”
“I told her that I was having second thoughts about marrying David because of my growing feelings for you.”
Mason fell back a step. Eyes wide, he sputtered, “What?”
“My sisters seem hell-bent on meddling in my relationships.” Sierra shook her head and pressed on. “Amy encouraged me to stay with David because she thought you were still married to your job and David offered me what I really wanted. Plus, she’d always had a crush on you and she didn’t want me to have you.”
“Seriously?” Mason rubbed his hand over the back of his neck. “I can’t believe she held out on both of us.” The frustration in his words matched her own.
“Trust me, I wasn’t happy when I found out, either. But here I am, stuck with the aftermath of what my sisters did. Amy’s petty interference seems insignificant compared to what Heather did, but both of them changed my life.” She pinned him with her gaze. “And you should have told me, not Amy, that you had feelings for me.”
He held her gaze. “You have no idea how much I wish I had done just that.” He really meant it.
“On one hand I wish I’d made a different choice. On the other . . .”
He nodded, his eyes going soft with understanding. “You have Danny and Oliver.”
“Exactly. Now what? What’s done is done. I can’t change the past or what David and Heather did.”
“Everything would have been