“I’m more of a flyer. It would have taken me over ten hours to get here by car. No, thank you.”
He laughed, exposing a mouth full of pearly whites. “I suppose in that way, we’re opposites. Nothing like getting out on the open road, blasting some tunes, and connecting with nature.”
“Oh, I connect. I just prefer to do it on a hike.” I leaned back in the chair, studying him. “I’ve heard a lot of things about you.”
“I’m sure you have. Not sure how much of it is true, and even if some of it is true, in my experience, sometimes the truth cuts deep.”
“I’m ready to cut if you are.”
He folded his hands in his lap and nodded. “What have you heard?”
“I was told you ended the relationship with Celia because you didn’t feel you were cut out to be a husband or a father. I also heard you were controlling or clingy, or maybe a bit of both. How am I doing so far?”
“Not so good. Whatever stories you’ve been told, they aren’t true.”
“Which parts?”
“All of them,” he said. “I didn’t end things with Celia. She ended things with me. No reason. No warning. Nothing. I thought we were a family, planning a future together, and then one morning I wake up, and she’s gone.”
Thinking back to what I’d been told, it didn’t make sense.
And yet, as I searched his expression, I had no reason to believe he was lying.
Not yet.
“Take me back to the beginning, to the time the two of you met,” I said.
He reached for the glass of water sitting on a side table and took a sip, circling the glass around in his hands. “I’ve always been somewhat of a nomad, a restless person, uninterested in settling down or putting down roots. I came to Sedona planning on staying for one week, maybe two, and then I met Celia. She was at one of the local parks, teaching a class on meditation. I stood there, watching for a while. A toddler kept circling around her, interrupting the class. Cutest little thing I’d ever seen. I waited for the class to be over, and then I walked up and introduced myself.”
“And then what happened?”
“We were inseparable, together day in, day out. Two weeks later, we married at town hall.”
“Even though you’d only known each other for such a short time?”
He shrugged. “What can I say? I loved that woman from the first time I set eyes on her. And then there was Holly, who added more joy to my life than I can express. She was an angel of a child. In my mind, we were a family.”
“From what Celia’s friends told me, she didn’t have many nice things to say about you. Let’s say I believe your side of the story over hers. Why do you think she lied about you?”
He looked past me, staring out the window. “I have no idea. She had a lot of friends here, but her relationships with them were a lot different than her friends in Cambria.”
“How so?”
“To my knowledge, they never visited or called. Or if they did, it wasn’t even when I was around. I thought they’d written her off. Out of sight, out of mind.”
“I spoke to Chelle. She wasn’t your biggest fan.”
Lenny raised a finger. “Now that’s a fact. Chelle liked to be in control of Celia’s life. When she wasn’t, it caused problems.”
“Funny, that’s the same thing she said about you.”
“It doesn’t surprise me. She struck me as a jealous type of person, and I’m … well, the opposite.”
I switched subjects. “Did Celia ever tell you anything about Holly’s birth parents?”
“I never knew the story behind Holly’s adoption, even though I asked about it several times. Celia would change the subject or say things like the past belonged in the past. I thought the whole thing was strange. From what I understand about adoption, it’s a long process, and a hard one, especially if you’re single.”
He had a point.
