The rage.
The love.
The truth, whatever it was, had never been told.
He swallowed hard and finally typed her name: Paige McLane.
She was the only one who’d known about the elopement that night.The only one who might still have the missing piece of the story.If anyone remembered the truth about that night, before the lies, the annulment, and the wreckage, it would be Paige.
To hell with legal databases.He wasn’t looking for a criminal record, just a lifeline.
The firm’s system spat out a location: Fort Collins, Colorado.No criminal charges.Just an address, and, luckily, a still-active number.
He dialed.
One ring.
Two.
“This is Paige.”
He closed his eyes, and for a second, the years fell away.Her voice still had the same easy warmth it always did.Sarcasm tucked under sincerity.
“Are you still as beautiful as you were twenty years ago?”
Silence.
“Who is this?”
He chuckled.“You don’t recognize my voice?I’m offended.”
Another pause.
“Tripp?”
“It’s me, darling, with a lot of time and baggage etched on my face,” he said, thinking the last time he’d seen her, they had all been so young – high school graduation.“Older, grayer, but still reasonably charming.”
She let out a low, disbelieving laugh.“Wow.Tripp Masterson.Who died?”
“No one.Not yet.”
“You married?”
“Divorced,” he said.“How about you?”
“Nope.I’m still happily single.I love my life here in Colorado,” she said.“Though I may come home soon.Where are you living?”
After years in Dallas, he’d come home only after his father’s death.It wasn’t the way he’d imagined returning, but someone had to keep the family law firm afloat, and his mother had made it clear she expected it to be him.Still, nothing had prepared him for Nicole.Seeing her again had been the one thing he hadn’t planned for.
“After my father passed, I moved back to the island, and I’m running the law firm now,” he said, knowing that as angry as he’d been at his father for the annulment, he still missed him.
“Any kids?”she asked.
“Nope,” he said.“No, my second marriage didn’t last long enough to have kids.”
Come to think of it, neither of his marriages lasted long.
There was silence on the phone.“It’s great to hear your voice, but it must be serious for you to call me out of the blue like this.You’ve had my number for twenty years.”
