Colton took a sip of coffee. “I’m not sure if you expect an answer but I’ll give you one anyway. When kids are young and small, they think their parents are super-humans and can even walk on water. So, yes, I can believe that.”
She shrugged. “I never thought he was super-human, but I was always proud that I lived in a household with a mom and a daddy. When I was in elementary school, that was not the case with a number of my classmates.”
She took a sip of coffee. “Mom had explained that since Dad was a fireman, we would not see him every day. That there would be days he would spend the night at the fire station. And when he did get to come home, he would have to sleep a lot since being a fireman was a hard job. I figured making sure people’s homes didn’t burn to the ground was very tiring. I was proud of what he did. Then at eleven, I discovered the truth. There was a side of my daddy I didn’t know. That Mom didn’t even know. That he was living a double life.”
“You found that out at eleven?” Colton asked.
“Yes. I overheard two librarians talking one day while I was waiting for Mom to pick me up. They were whispering, but Ioverheard them anyway. They were talking about Mom. They said she was a fool for not knowing my dad was cheating on her. And that everyone in town, except her, knew about all his other women. They said she was a fool for being in love with a liar. Their words not only struck me that day, Colton, but over the years, they stuck with me.”
He nodded. “Did you tell your mom?”
“No. But I never looked at my father the same way again, and that hurt. It hurt because around Mom, he was all loving and caring. But I knew better. I knew he was pretending.”
“Those women could have been lying, you know,” Colton said.
“I had hoped they were. So I began watching Dad and noticed that whenever Mom left me with him, he would go up in the attic. The one in the garage. He had a trunk up there that he kept locked. He hid the key in his toolbox with a red feather attached to it. One day when he was at the fire station, I got the key and although I thought the attic was a creepy place, I went up there and unlocked the trunk.”
“What did you find inside?”
“Photos of him and other women; some with clothes on and some naked. He had women’s panties in the trunk, as well as love letters women had written him. One girl was still in high school, and a few others were in college. I read some of the letters and at eleven, I got a shocking lesson about adultery.”
“That’s awful, Kelly,” Colton said, reaching across the table to take her hand.
His hand felt warm and comforting. “Yes, it was. I had made up my mind to tell Mom about it, but as it turned out, I didn’t have to. A couple of weeks later, she and I returned home early from my grandparents’ house. Mom caught him and another woman in their bed. I actually saw a woman run out of myparents’ home, naked. But instead of apologizing to Mom, he got mad at her for not letting him know she was returning early.”
Kelly hadn’t known she was crying until she felt the tears that fell on their joined hands. “I thought I had gotten over all of that, Colton. In a way, I knew my parents’ divorce was for the best. I believed that in time, Mom would get over him and move on with her life. I got to know siblings I never knew I had. I’ve achieved my educational and career goals. And thanks to you, I was getting my life on track by learning how to do things I’d never done before, like making time to relax. Everything was going great.”
She paused for a minute, then let out a breath. “But the day I overheard those women gossip about me, it immediately took me back to that day in the library, and the librarians talking about my mom. I promised myself I would never be the type of woman who loved a liar.”
“Loved a liar?”
Kelly nodded as she gazed at him. “Yes. I’m sorry, Colton, but I freaked out, thinking I had done the very same thing my mom had done.”
He didn’t say anything for a minute. Then he stood and tugged on her hand. “Come on, let’s take a walk. Don’t worry about the stuff left on the table. I’ll clean it up later.”
With her hand firmly planted in his, they left the kitchen, walked out a side door and down the steps to enter his backyard. It was just as meticulously landscaped as it was out front, with several flowering plants and trees. “It’s beautiful out here.”
“Thanks to Uncle Howey. I’m taking you to a pond he put in last year. I’ve put benches there where we can sit and finish our talk.”
“Okay.”
It was a short walk to the pond, and within minutes, they were sitting side by side on the benches. “So, when did you finally realize I’m not a liar?”
“Honestly, I think I knew right away, but I was having a hard time getting my head around it. And this past weekend, I talked to Hansen. He’s the only person I’ve ever told about what the librarians said. I still haven’t told anyone but you about the trunk in the attic,” she added with a wry grin. “Anyway, he made me realize what happened when I overheard those women talking about me that way. I experienced a form of déjà vu. Once I had time to think about it, I knew there was no way you would have done that to me, regardless of how well things had worked out between us when we traveled together. I tried apologizing, but you wouldn’t take my calls.”
“No, I would not,” he admitted. “I told you what happened with my girlfriend in high school. So, in a way, you weren’t the only one to experience a form of déjà vu. However, I want to get something clear, Kelly. I didn’t select your agency, Lake did. And he did so without any input from me. In fact, I was out of the country at the time, and he wanted to make a move on it right away. After I returned, he told me he’d hired KP Consulting Agency. Even if I had been in on the decision to hire you, I would have agreed to do so, regardless of our past association. Lake had your company’s file sent to me the weekend before you arrived in Boston and I reviewed it. You were easily the most qualified consulting agency for what we needed done. There was no doubt Lake had made the right decision.”
“Thank you, Colton.”
“And I stick by what I told you in New York. As long as we handled ourselves professionally during working hours, what we did after those hours was our business and no one else’s. I don’t regret the time we shared in New York or LA, and if we had todo it again, I wouldn’t change a thing. Now, I want to ask you something.”
“What?”
“You said those women accused you of being in love with a liar. I’m not a liar, but what about the love part? Are you in love with me, Kelly? Before you answer, I have to tell you, I am in love with you. I believe I fell in love with you the first time I met you. According to my dad, there’s a time in each man’s lifetime when he meets a woman who is destined to get into his soul and master his heart. And I believed that you were that woman. The master of my heart. That’s why I could not have a meaningless affair with you.”
“Oh, Colton,” she said, turning to fully face him, unable to stop the tears that filled her eyes. “I’m sorry for acting the way I did. I love you, too. I realized just how much when we were in New York.” She shook her head slowly. “I’ve been so stupid. And just so you know, Sherelle Telfair came to see me on Monday and told me everything. But I had already accepted you hadn’t lied. We just have a problem with timing. It took two years, but it was finally time to overcome what was keeping us apart. That is, if you want to…”
“Oh, I want to,” he said, reaching over and placing her onto his lap, cuddling her close to his heart.
