Page 83 of Without Regret

He shrugged. “Maybe it isn’t only for you.”

“Fair enough.” I knew Simon loved Emma like a sister.

“I realize you’re upset. Hell, even I feel weird about their affair. But she was nineteen, alone in a new city with no family—”

I cut him off. “I’m not angry about it happening. It’s the past, and it wouldn’t be fair to hold that against her. But I am pissed she didn’t tell me. Instead, I had to find out from him in that way.”

“She tell you how she grew up?”

“Glimpses of it. I can appreciate trust doesn’t come easy for her, but it doesn’t make me any less frustrated with her for keeping this from me.”

“I get it. But playing devil’s advocate, would you have been able to work with Tom if she had told you the truth? If you’d become aware he was the one to take years of trust issues and break them further? That he’d cheated on his wife with her not realizing?”

He had a point. But knowing he’d done that to her begged another question. “Why would she agree to still work with him after?”

He shrugged. “You’d have to ask her, but she didn’t at first. We worked together three years before Tom asked to be assigned to the team. Guess she just decided to put up with it. To be fair, sometimes we go months without seeing him.”

“I’ll talk to her tonight.” Because alcohol wouldn’t make this type of conversation any easier. My initial anger had faded, and I was starting to understand why she hadn’t told me. In fact, I’d already forgiven her for it and felt awful for leaving the way I had. Taking out my phone, I intended to text her that I’d be by later to talk, but Simon’s words stopped me.

“About that. I’m ninety-nine percent certain she’s already bolted out of Texas.”

“What?” The thought of her fleeing had never occurred to me. “This was a bump. Not an ending.”

He sighed. “She won’t see it that way. My guess is she’s already on a flight to New York City, figuring you have rejected her fully.”

I signaled the bartender, intending to pay the bill and rush back in the hopes of catching her. “I need to go find her.”

He shook his head. “Not yet. First, you and I need to have a talk. I have an idea that may help us, both regarding our future and in getting her back.”

The seriousness of his tone had me sitting back down.

***

Simon’s plan was a no-brainer. He proposed we go into a real estate partnership together. We went back to the office to make plans. We’d start with a commercial building he’d been evaluating in Dallas and work from there. He had some investment money of his own to put up. Combined with some of mine, we had a healthy start. We’d sent our official resignations to Phillip. This triggered a phone call Simon knew would follow.

I let him handle that conversation while I booked my flight to New York, then fielded my own phone call from my father. Evidently, news traveled quickly.

“Trevor, where are you?”

“In the office. And how are you, Dad?”

“Confused. Why did you resign from Phillip’s company?”

You would think he’d be over the moon at the news instead of accusatory. “I resigned because his nephew has no morals or integrity. I won’t work with a man like that.”

“Are you talking about Tom from the party?”

“Yes.”

“In the short time I spent with him, I thought the same. So, now what?”

“Simon is proposing to Phillip that we act as advisors for a few months—so long as we don’t have to deal with Tom. In the meantime, we’re going into business together. Real estate.”

“That happened fast.”

Leave it to him to sound critical. “It’s what I’ve always wanted to do. And it feels right.”

“I suppose you’ll be asking for money for the initial investment.”

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