“I know,” I croak. “I’m probably an idiot for trying to.”
She lifts an eyebrow, but a smile hovers at the corners of her mouth. “You are, sir. But we’ll get back to that in a minute. I need to ask you something specific. Did your marriage end for any reason you haven’t told me?”
“No?” I try to imagine what that question might even mean. “She said she’d had it and asked me for a divorce. Seemed pretty straightforward to me.”
Hailey’s hands get fidgety on the rim of her coffee cup. “I spotted something that I think I should tell you, even though it feels selfish.”
Selfish? “Hailey, honey—you strike me as the least selfish person I’ve ever met.”
Her eyes lift to mine at this compliment. “Not so sure about that.” Our gazes lock, and her restraint falters a little. Her eyes turn begging, but then she gives her head a little shake as if to clear it. “You know I’ve been doing a lot of research on our client database.”
“Yeah. Trying to figure out if the expansion makes sense.”
“Good listening.” She gives me a sad smile. “Your wife’s account came up on my file search. She’s a long-time customer of Fetch.”
“Right. That’s how I knew about Fetch in the first place.”
She nods. “Well, Kara has a standing lunch date on Fridays.”
“Yeah, with her parents and the girls. God forbid they miss a Friday lunch with Grandpa and Grandma.”
“No, Matt.” Hailey bites her lip. “Kara goes out to lunch with Dr. Daniel Bryant every Friday at noon. They like Sassafras. But sometimes they mix it up at the Greenwich Bistro or the restaurant at the Drake Hotel.”
I try to picture it. “Okay. So they take the girls to their grandparents, and Kara and Dentist Dan eat out? I didn’t know that. But it makes sense, right? She wants a man who can keep a lunch date.”
Hailey sighs. “They’re really good at keeping their lunch dates. They’ve been having them for over two years.”
“Over…” I do the math. “That doesn’t sound right.”
Silently she takes her phone out of her pocket and taps on an app. She taps again and scrolls. “I should probably fire myself for this indiscretion,” she mutters. Then she hands me the phone.
And it’s right there on the screen. Reservations going back two years. “They’re in his name. How stupid is my ex-wife? Jesus Christ.” I hand the phone back quickly because it’s tempting to crush it like a gum wrapper. “She cheated?”
“I don’t really know,” Hailey says quickly. “It might not have been like that originally.”
My head throbs suddenly and I rub my temples. “What am I missing?”
“Maybe nothing.” Hailey gets up and moves closer to me. She puts a warm hand on my back and strokes. Fuck, that feels good. I need her touch. “But I wondered about Kara and her dentist. Maybe the reason she convinced herself you weren’t a good partner was that she was in love with someone else.”
“Oh my God.” The last few months with her were so hard. Was there even a point to all the fighting we did? I was trying to save my marriage, and her demands grew by the day. Maybe it couldn’t be saved no matter what. “They…she went to a high school reunion. He was there. It was, I dunno, a year before I moved out.”
“They knew each other in high school?”
“She dated him. I don’t know the whole story.”
“Well…” Hailey hesitates. “I don’t know Kara, and I don’t want to guess what happened. But I thought you should know that maybe some missed nights at home weren’t the only problem.”
I cling to this idea. I love this fucking idea. I’m so tired of feeling like a jerk and a failure. “My head is kind of exploding here.”
She puts a hand on the back of my neck and gives the muscles a nice squeeze. “I know. I didn’t know what to do with that information. It’s really none of my business.”
“Sure it is.” I look at her, and all the hesitation is back in her expression. And that’s my fault. “I want it to be your business, Hottie. I really freaked out last night. But staying away from you was never going to work.”
Her hand leaves my body, and she scoots a few crucial inches away from me. “I need to go to work. You don’t have to figure out your whole life this morning, okay? Call me if you want to talk more.”
But that’s not good enough. “Wait.” I catch her in my arms before she can make her getaway. I draw her in and hold her against my body. “If I promise not to freak out like that again…” I take a deep breath of her sweet scent and sigh it out. “Can you forgive me? I’m not usually such a drama llama.”
Hailey laughs. “I’m not going to pressure you. I’m not going to beg. But I really don’t want to break up, either.”
I beam at her. “Then let’s not.” My arms wrap around her for a tight squeeze, and she lets out a shaky breath.
We’re going to be okay. I’m going to be okay. I truly believe that now.
Twenty-Two
Porn, Sweetheart
One month later
Hailey
I’m sitting at my desk, trying to read through a list of ideas for springtime promotions that Jackson sent me. But I can’t concentrate, because I saw Mr. Emery come in about forty-five minutes ago, closing Jackson’s door behind him.
What the heck are they doing in there for so long? Best-case scenario—they’re playing a Scrabble death match. Worst case, they’re plotting my exit from the company.
Two weeks ago I finished my expansion report. I really nerded out on it, too. The data show in very crisp terms that the Bridle Path expansion is not the next move for us. My research proved we could grow faster as a company if we first grew our margins here in Yorkville, and then expanded somewhere a little less insular. Like Rosedale.
To make my point, I’d created charts in four colors, a killer appendix of data, and an infographic that kept me up half the night to create. If I thought it would have made me more persuasive, I would have written the report in iambic pentameter or choreographed an interpretive dance to get my point across.
Okay, maybe not that last thing. I have my own dignity to consider. But I will not allow this company—my baby—to be stretched to its breaking point by an unwise expansion.
My high-tech office chair creaks as I shift in my seat for the tenth time in an hour. I feel as if I’m at a big turning point in my life, and it isn’t entirely comfortable. Dating Matt is the exciting part. Taking a big risk there is paying off. I poke my phone just to see the new photo on my lock screen—a selfie of Matt and I after last week’s victory against Denver. We’re partying at Sticks & Stones with the team, and I have a red “T” for Toronto painted on my forehead, and he’s kissing my cheekbone.
I could stare at it all day.
But life doesn’t let you choose only the changes you want. I feel my work life coming to a boil in the other room. Jackson and his dad aren’t making any noise that I can hear all the way in my office. But I feel a disturbance in the force. Something’s coming.