Page 143 of Protecting Love

She wasn’t sure how she got through the day. How she was able to avoid London and focus on work.

Nope. There was no focusing being done.

She’d kept her door shut, her light on do not disturb, and since that was normal for her, she was left alone.

No reason for her to have her hand held to go home alone either.

So once she knew the office was quiet, she slipped out and left Molly there to lock up, saying she was going to finish up at home rather than starting something fresh.

What she finished was her tears.

“Hi, honey. How are you doing?”

“I’ve been better,” she said, sniffling.

Guess the tears weren’t exactly gone.

“What happened? Did you and Fletcher have a fight?”

She flopped on the couch. “I don’t know what the heck happened. I’m trying to piece it together the best I can.”

“And you need to bounce things off of me?” her mother asked.

“Yeah. London won’t do.”

“Which means that your sister would go into fight mode?”

“That’s one of them,” she said. “I’m not in the mood to defend Fletcher but don’t need to hear crap about him either.”

“It must be serious. Lay it out for me.”

She got comfortable on the couch, reached for the tissues and pulled one out to blot her eyes.

“I told you a bit about Ian, right?”

“Yes. That he didn’t know about you until Friday, then you met him on Sunday, and that you were hurt that Fletcher didn’t introduce you the first time.”

“Yeah.” She’d called her mother on Sunday afternoon to fill her in.

She was riding high, feeling great about where things were going and then out of nowhere, this happened.

“Something had to have happened.”

“He had a nasty divorce. Or maybe the divorce wasn’t bad, but the marriage. I never asked those details.”

Because she felt as if it was too intrusive. The fact Fletcher had shared as much as he had, when she knew it was hard for him, was enough. For now.

“Maybe you should have.”

“He’ll tell me if he wants me to know, but I don’t think it matters. What I know is his ex cheated on him a lot throughout his marriage. Just sex she said.”

“He had no clue, or he kept giving her a chance?”

She let out a snort. “No chances. When he found out, he moved out that night. I honestly think he blames himself for not seeing it more, but he always wanted to talk and she didn’t. He carries a lot of guilt that his career took him away from home.”

“Sounds like his ex knew what she was getting into though.”

“I said that also. Anyway, fast forward, Lorraine—that’s her name—she’s remarried to some political consultant out of DC. When she moved last year, Ian didn’t want to go. I guess it was split custody, but it sounds as if Ian spent more time with his father.”