“In college, sure.” Scott frowned. “She hung around for like a semester one year. Right when we were getting to know each other. That’d be before you came to the group, Wes.”

“Right. Well, we were married.” I reached for the empty soda can and spun it in my hands. “Are married. Her home situation was bad. My folks had basically adopted her when we started middle school. Mostly we dragged her to church and had her over, that kind of thing. She was always glad to come along because it was out of the house. She was a lot less accident prone out of the house.”

“Oh.” Austin scowled. “I hate that. I’ve had students like that.”

Of all the guys, Austin was the most likely to understand because of the demographics he’d taught and the kids he now served in the tutoring center. “Yeah. She never outright said her parents were abusive, but it was pretty obvious. I resented having her follow along for a little while, then we became friends. And then I developed a massive crush.”

“I assume it was mutual, seeing that you married her.” Cody leaned forward. “Where’s she been?”

“Shhh.” Austin reached over and flicked Cody’s leg. “He’s getting there.”

“Nah. It was never mutual. And my parents were not on board with us being more than friends because she wasn’t a believer. She accepted Christ toward the end of high school, but even then, they warned me to be careful since she was so new in her faith. But when I went to college, she still had a year of high school and her dad was drinking a lot more, and from what she said, the abuse was shifting in nature.” I didn’t want to have to spell it out. This honestly felt like I was giving away all of Faith’s secrets without her permission. But it was part of the story, and I didn’t think the guys would understand why I’d married her without the details.

Noah’s hand contracted around his soda can enough that it started to collapse.

The sound broke the silence.

“That about sums it up.” Scott took the soda can out of Noah’s hand. “So she needed out.”

I nodded. “She was eighteen. Just. So after Christmas break, she came back with me, we got married, and I kind of hid her at my place for a while. Until she left.”

“She left?” Noah frowned. “She didn’t go back home, did she?”

“No. Or, I don’t think so. She didn’t say, and the times I looked for her, I never found evidence that she had. But I didn’t have the time, resources, or money when I was still in school to do as thorough a job as I would now.” I cleared my throat. “Long story short, she’s been missing from my life for the last fourteen years. She showed up out of the blue on Friday looking for help. Then walked out again Monday night because she didn’t like how I thought we needed to approach the problem.”

Scott’s eyebrows drew together. “She’s in trouble. Big trouble. That’s why you were looking for the FBI contact info.”

“FBI?” Wes’s eyebrows drew together.

I glanced around. Everyone, save Scott, wore a similar expression of shock.

“Did you get it?” Scott reached for a napkin and scrubbed at his hands. “You’re still going to help her, right?”

I let out an exasperated breath. “I talked to Christopher Ward and he put me in touch with his sister. I have a name and I left a message, but with Faith gone, I don’t know how much help I can be. Or if she even wants me to try. I gave her divorce papers.”

“What? Did you kick her puppy too?” Noah threw his hands in the air. “I thought you had more empathy than that.”

I opened my mouth to defend myself, then snapped it shut. It had seemed like—no, it had been—the right thing to do at the time. And I wasn’t going to apologize for it.

I crossed my arms.

“Chill, Noah.” Cody looked between the two of us. “We don’t know the whole situation.”

“No, we don’t.” Wes put his plate down on the coffee table. “Why is that, Tristan? The rest of us don’t hold anything back from the group, but you’re always over on the sidelines, aloof.”

“I’m not aloof.” I snorted. What a stupid word. “I’m a lawyer. I deal with people’s confidential information. If one of us was a doctor, would you expect full disclosure from them on all their patients?”

“I’m not talking about your clients, man. You know that.” Wes pointed at me. “After the crap you gave Sunshine this summer?”

“I apologized for that.” Maybe I hadn’t thoroughly meant the apology at the time, but I did now. Mostly. I did think we should all have a prenup when we got married, but none of the guys so far had taken me up on it. It was as if they figured…well, I couldn’t figure out what they thought was going on. Maybe since they all had such fairy-tale-perfect marriages it wouldn’t ever be an issue.

I didn’t imagine I’d ever get that lucky though. My first marriage had been such a rollicking success, after all.

“Did she sign them?” Austin stood and moved to the kitchen to get another drink.

“I assume so. She didn’t take them with her.” I hadn’t looked yet. Right now, they could sit there in that envelope like Schrodinger’s Cat. But once I pulled them out and saw her signature? It was over. For good.

Austin tilted his head to the side. “You didn’t look?”