He shook his head. “That’s unbelievable.”
“No, what’s unbelievable is that he expected me to accept what he did as a first-time offense. He wanted us to continue on from there. He was actually shocked that I disagreed and broke up with him. After all, he felt I contributed to his cheating.”
“How so?”
When she told him, he stared at her for a moment and then asked, “You’re serious?”
“Yes.”
“He actually thinks just because he took your advice and hired this woman, that you also forced him to sleep with her?” Matt asked.
“Evidently. After what Warren did, I’ve decided it’s safer to wrap up in bed with a book rather than with a man.”
“How long ago did the two of you break up?”
“Eleven months ago.”
“I’m sorry Warren did that to you, Iris. You didn’t deserve it.”
“No, I didn’t. He lived in Philly, and when we agreed to a long-distance romance, I made sure he understood how much trust meant to me. He’d assured me he did. Since he was a widower like I was a widow, and we’d both lost people we’d loved deeply and were too old to play games, I felt he was safe. Obviously, I was wrong.” She paused. “It was an unfortunate circumstance that came with a valuable lesson.”
He nodded. “Are you ready to go inside the museum now?”
She smiled at him. “Yes, I’m ready.”
* * *
“So, what did you think of the exhibit?”
Matt glanced over at Iris as they were seated at the table for lunch. After spending a little more than an hour at the museum, they were now at McKay’s. Iris had told him she’d been here before, a number of times, with the Westmorelands, as it was one of their favorite restaurants. “I thought the sculptures were quite stunning. So were those artifacts,” he said.
“I thought so, too. Pam and I took an Egyptian studies class in college, and Egypt has been on my bucket list since. Pam got a chance to go there when she and Dillon visited Jamal and Delaney in Tahran.”
The conversation paused when a waitress gave them menus and poured glasses of water. He glanced at the menu. If he wasn’t hungry before, he most certainly was now. There were so many delicious-looking entrees. He could see why this was one of the Westmorelands’ favorite places.
After deciding what he wanted, he placed his menu down at the same time Iris did. Their gazes met, and she smiled, asking, “What did you decide to order?”
“Since I figured a feast would be served at the hoedown, I didn’t want to overeat now, but those pork chops look too delicious.”
Her smile widened. “I’ve gotten them before, and they are good. But for now, I decided to order their lunch-size vegetable pot pie.”
He nodded as he continued to stare at her, unable to look away. He still had a hard time believing she was in her forties. When they met two years ago, she was a few months shy of forty-one. Matt thought she still looked younger than that. Her smooth brown skin was flawless, with not a single wrinkle in sight. And he liked the way her hair hung around her shoulders. The style fit her features.
He couldn’t erase from his mind what she’d told him about Warren Forsythe. Granted, he had never been in an exclusive relationship with a woman, but like Iris, trust meant a lot to him. He couldn’t overlook what she’d said. “I have decided that for me it’s safer to wrap up in bed with a book rather than with a man.”
Was that her way of letting him know she wasn’t ready to get seriously involved with another man anytime soon? Another woman had shared her boyfriend’s bed while they were in an exclusive relationship. He could just imagine the trust issues she’d been left with. It had been close to a year ago, and she still hadn’t moved on. Her inability to do so definitely didn’t work in his favor.
The waitress returned and took their order. Afterward, deciding to change the subject, he said, “I understand you and Pam met at college.”
“Yes, we did. We were roommates at the University of Southern California.”
“Where are you originally from?” he asked.
“I was born and raised in San Clemente. When I left home for college, I didn’t have to go far. Just a little over an hour away. I got to go home often.”
“Are your parents still living?”
“No. Mom died when I was fifteen, of cancer, and Dad died a little over a year after my husband.” She paused a moment and then said, “He loved his Harley. Always did. In fact, he and Mom met when his motorcycle gang stopped at a place where she worked as a waitress. They were both in their twenties at the time. As long as I can remember, Dad always had a motorcycle. I used to ride with him on occasion. Mom did, too. One morning, he went on his every Sunday ride in his neighborhood and got struck by a drunk driver who ran a stop sign. So, within two years, I lost the two most important men in my life.”
