Bre’s demeanor changed, sadness and grief morphing into defiance. She ripped the photo from my grasp. “It was more than an affair. That word sounds…dirty.” She smirked. “Reid was a good man in an unhappy marriage.”
“How long...?”
She squared her shoulders. “A couple of years.”
“Years?” Her answer felt like a gut punch.
“Don’t act so high and mighty. You’re the last person to judge. We all know about you and Griffin Graham.”
“Dad was married. Fin and I are both single. There’s no comparison.”
“Do you really want this information to get out too?” she asked, holding up the picture. “As if your affair with Mr. Graham isn’t already harming the Coopers.”
“We’re in a relationship. That’s not an affair.”
“You want the world to remember Reid as an owner, CEO, and family man, or for this?”
I walked to the desk and began to rifle through the papers. My stomach twisted as I read intimate notes from Dad to Bre and others from her to him. I recognized his penmanship right away. My nose wrinkled as sour stomach acid made its way up my throat. Each one was signed with love or a heart.
My stomach twisted. “Dad was sixty-five. You’re what…forty?”
“Forty-one.” Her lips curled. “Your father was a powerful, amorous lover.”
I shook my head. “Stop.”
Bre took a deep breath.
“Did the two of you have plans?” I finally asked. “Or were you supposed to go on forever as the other woman?”
“We had plans.” Bre stormed out the door.
I followed a step behind.
Bre opened the top drawer of her desk and pulled out a small robin’s-egg-blue box—Tiffany’s. Opening the hinged box, she took a large solitary diamond ring out and slid it onto the fourth finger of her left hand. “He wanted to marry me.”
“He told you that?”
She looked longingly down at the ring. “We were both looking forward to the day I could wear this out in the open.”
“How…how long ago did he give that to you?”
“Last year after the end of the season.”
I didn’t want to think about my dad as any kind of lover. I also didn’t want to think of him as a cheater, but that timeline seemed long. “If he meant what he said, wouldn’t his marriage be over by now?”
“Daphne.” Bre’s nostrils flared. “She was manipulating him.”
“She was manipulating Dad,” I repeated. “Or was he manipulating you?”
“No, don’t say that. He wouldn’t do that. We had plans. Reid was going to divorce Daphne. He was tired of her constant spending and whining. He wanted to be with a woman with more depth than a pothole.”
Okay, that fit.
“And that woman was you?”
“Vee, I’m telling you the truth. Reid was going to file for divorce after the end of this season. We were supposed to go on an overseas trip where we’d marry and honeymoon.” The tears were back, coating Bre’s cheeks. “He loved me. I loved him.”
I scrunched my nose. “Did he talk to Mr. Eads about a divorce?”
