“My ex-fiancé. And Darius still hasn’t come to see you.” Peyton kept walking. “That restraining order Darius took out against you is never going away.”
Ginny hurried to keep pace with her. “Maybe not. But you don’t have him, either.”
Peyton didn’t respond. What could she say? Darius was lost to her as well. Mercifully, Ginny claimed that victory and allowed Peyton to walk away.
She’d made a mistake by thinking she could start fresh in Trinity Falls. It had never occurred to her that her past would follow and get in the way of her future. How shortsighted. She would have explained all of that to Darius if he’d returned any of her three messages. She was beginning to feel like Ginny the Stalker.
Peyton adjusted her purse strap and shifted the books in her hand as she mounted the ornate black metal staircase to her apartment. She had only a few hours before she needed to return to the community center for tonight’s event. Not enough time to prepare for a repeat of Darius’s emotional distance.
Her cell phone started ringing as soon as Peyton let herself into her apartment and locked her door. She dug it from her purse as she walked into her bedroom. The display screen identified her parents’ home number. Peyton set the phone and her textbooks on her nightstand. She wasn’t up to a conversation with them now. Maybe later. Peyton stripped down to her underwear, set her alarm to go off in one hour, then curled up under the blankets for a nap.
Minutes later, a persistent ringing woke her. Grumbling, Peyton blinked open her eyes and grabbed her cell phone from her nightstand. It was her parents’ number again.
“Hello?” Peyton turned off her alarm as she accepted their call.
“Peyton, it’s Mom.” Her mother’s voice sounded uncertain.
“And Dad.” Her father must be speaking from another extension.
“Is something wrong?” She sat up in her bed, setting a pillow between her back and the headboard.
“We called to apologize.” Irene’s explanation startled Peyton.
She tightened her grip on her cell phone. “Apologize? For what?”
Peyton’s eyes searched her bedroom as she tried to settle her mind. She avoided her reflection in the mirror across the room. She was certain she looked a mess. Shadows sketched along her beige walls as the winter afternoon lengthened.
“You were right about Bruce.” Her mother’s voice was low with regret. “He was having an affair with Leila.”
“I know.” They’d woken her up to tell her this? But of course they hadn’t known she’d been sleeping.
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Carlson asked.
Peyton wanted to laugh. “I did and you didn’t believe me, remember?” She didn’t wait for their answer. “What finally convinced you?”
Carlson’s sigh traveled down the phone line. “When Leila found out you’d broken the engagement, she insisted Bruce marry her. He refused. According to Leila, he was determined to make you marry him.”
Had she heard her father correctly? “You spoke with Leila?”
“I asked her whether there was any truth to the rumors of a personal relationship between her and Bruce.”
“Then you did believe me.” The revelation eased a tension she hadn’t realized was there.
“We should have listened to you right away,” Carlson said. “But I didn’t want to believe I could be so blind to something that was right under my nose. I’d worked side by side with Bruce for years—long days, long weeks. How could I not have seen he was a fake and a cheat?”
“But you were quite passionate when you accused him of infidelity. We’re sorry we doubted you, Peyton.”
Am I dreaming? “What did you tell Bruce?”
“I fired him.” Anger echoed in Carlson’s voice. “He violated company policy by having a sexual relationship with a member of his staff. Not only does it show poor judgment, but it also leaves the brokerage vulnerable to a lawsuit.”
The news took Peyton’s breath away. “You did the right thing, Dad.”
“Thank you for making me face the situation.” Carlson sounded angry and embarrassed.
Irene broke the brief silence. “So, now that the situation with Bruce has been handled, you can come home.”
“Mom, I am home.” Peyton braced herself for this next confrontation.