I looked down at Morgan. She had no idea. Nash had never told her he had hired ma PI to find out the truth about Mike’s affair. And it was Nash and Butch who had decided to keep the truth from Morgan. Something I was now stuck in the middle of.
“Mike tried to be there for Lance’s wife.”
I swallowed hard.
“When he asked me to marry him, it wasn’t the fairy-tale proposal I had always dreamed of, but he had seemed so happy. Like maybe what had been bothering him had somehow slipped away. It felt like the old Mike was back. It didn’t last long though. He grew distant and . . .”
Her voice broke off into a sob, and I was about to ask her if she wanted to talk about this another day, but I didn’t. I had a feeling this was the first time Morgan had talked about Mike at all.
I held her tighter as she drew in a shaky breath.
“I told him maybe we should split up for a while. Take a step back and look at our relationship.”
My breath stilled in my chest.
“Mike asked me to not leave him. He said things were okay and that he would go to counseling. I believed him. He said he needed to go out of town for a few days. Be around his old army buddies and get closure. I told him I thought it would be a good idea.”
I glanced down at Morgan as she stared off into space. It was clear a memory was hitting her.
“I really thought things would be different when he got back. We would be different. He would be like he was before.”
“Was he?” I asked.
She pulled in a deep breath. “No, not really. He had something on his mind, and I asked him to go to a counselor with me. We needed to figure out what was wrong. I didn’t want to give up on our relationship. He told me he would go. Two days later, he killed himself, and I’ve been trying to wrap my head around what I missed. What I did wrong.”
Goddammit. She needed to know the truth.
“You did nothing wrong, Morgan. Nothing.”
Then she did a one-eighty and changed the subject. “Do you know what’s my favorite time of year?”
My eyes closed as I asked, “What’s that?”
“Christmas.”
Smiling, I kissed the top of her head and reached for her soup bowl. She took it and positioned herself next to me so she could eat.
“Why Christmas?”
After taking a few spoonfuls, she answered. “It’s filled with so many beautiful memories. Fun times with me and Nash, going skiing and taking long road trips. When I look at a Christmas tree, it’s like all those happy memories come rushing back, and I get to forget every bad one from the last six years.”
“There must be some good memories since Mike passed away.”
She smiled. “There have been.” When she turned and looked at me, our eyes met. “You’ve been one of them. You seemed to have sparked something back up in me, and I have to tell you, Blake, it scares me as much as it excites me.”
“Me too.”
Eating more soup, she gestured for me to go back to my own bowl. We ate in silence until she finished, laid down, and drifted off to sleep.
I picked up the bowls and made my way into the kitchen. Picking up my phone, I sent Nash a text. I didn’t give two shits it was early in the morning.
Me: You have to tell Morgan the truth. If you don’t, I will.
I set my phone down, jabbed my fingers through my hair, and cursed. I was in new territory with all of this, and I had no clue what in the hell I was doing. The only thing I knew for sure was there was no way I would lie to Morgan and no way I would fuck this up with her. Once Morgan found out the truth about Mike, I would tell her about that night and pray to God it didn’t change her opinion of me.
I WOKE TO my body pressed against someone. For the first time in a few days, my head wasn’t pounding. I didn’t feel feverish, and the fog lifted.
The sound of a soft sigh from behind me had me smiling.