Results populated the screen almost instantly.
A local article. A short mention in a public record.
Enough to confirm what she hadn’t wanted to believe.
Maxhadbeen arrested.
Convicted.
Sentenced.
Her chest tightened as she read, the words blurring before she forced herself to focus.
Assault. The details were sparse, but the conclusion wasn’t.
Max had been to prison for hurting someone. She’d tried to live her life above reproach. To keep her reputation clean. And now she was dating a violent ex-con.
She didn’t know what to think of that.
Hadley sat back, her mind racing to catch up.
A strange mix of emotions tangled together inside her—shock, confusion, something close to betrayal. Not because of what Max had done—she didn’t even know the full story—but because he hadn’t told her.
Yes, she’d known he had something to tell her. But she’d assumed it was something about a past relationship or something.
Not prison.
But did this change her feelings? Did this change her wanting to be with him?
She pressed her lips together, her thoughts shifting.
Going to prison didn’t automatically make someone dangerous or bad. People made mistakes and did the time to pay for them.
Yet dating someone with that kind of past wasn’t something she’d ever imagined for herself. It didn’t fit the clean and wholesome life she’d always lived. The choices she’d always made.
Of course, neither did divorce. That hadn’t been on her playlist. But not everything in her life was in her control.
Whether or not to date an ex-convictwasher decision, however.
Her stomach turned again, and she pushed back from the desk, suddenly unable to sit any longer.
She needed to talk to Max. She stared at her phone, unsure what to do.
Then she shot off a text.
We need to talk. About your past. Call me when you can.
Instead of waiting for him to respond, she decided she needed some air—or something.
Juno.
She should check on the dog and her puppies to make sure everything was still going well, she realized. Maybe Naomi would be there, and the two of them could talk.
Hadley grabbed her coat and slipped it on, her movements quicker now. She needed to do something—anything—other than sit there and think.
CHAPTER 36
Hadley pulledinto Refuge Cove and cut the engine, sitting a moment with her hands still on the wheel. Deputy Vaugn pulled in behind her, shadowing her just as he’d been instructed.
