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She tipped onto her feet and he took her by the hand to lead her to the door. She gripped the album and let him pull her along but she was burning to get back to those entries. Whoever this mystery man was, even her mother’s coolness was absent from the page, leaving the warm excitement of a new man in her life.
Maybe in that regard, they weren’t so different.
When Judd let in the others and they all looked to Trinny, she realized she no longer felt like an outlier, the person on the edge of the group who never belonged. Their expressions of concern and empathy made her see that shecouldbelong with them. Not only on Jaren’s account either—she felt a genuine warmth and friendship from all of them.
Judd and Ari, Ross, Casey and a few others.
Judd shifted his attention from her to his brother. “Jace is out on duty. And Lexis got called into the meeting in Colorado with Corrine and Modeen about the terrorism task force.”
“That’s fine. We just need some support with this.” He waved at the album in her hand. “It might have answers we’ve been looking for. When I called you, Trinny wasn’t sure she could go through with reading the contents, but she did start reading.”
“We both did.” She squeezed his fingers.
He returned the squeeze.
Ross waved at the living room. “We’ll make ourselves comfortable while you continue reading. Case, check the fridge. See what my sister left here in the way of snacks.”
“Copy that, boss man.” Casey took off in loping steps to the kitchen.
For a minute, the normalcy of their behavior struck Trinny. This was a typical day for them. While her stomach was twisted up in knots, these guys were more than ready to slam back some sandwiches.
Jaren tugged on her hand.
Despite all the support coming at her from every corner of the room, she resisted that tug.
“Uh…I’m going to read this by myself.” She met Jaren’s stare, waiting for his protest.
He searched her eyes. “You sure?”
She nodded. “I need to be alone with it.”
“All right.” He released her hand but leaned in to press his lips between her brows in a tender kiss. When he pulled away, he said, “I’ll be out here with the crew.”
Trinny caught Ari’s private smile before her significant other distracted her but she continued to the guestroom and curled up on the bed to read. Soon she was caught up in her mother’s writings again.
When she reached one entry, she sucked in a gasp.
Oh, god.She couldn’t believe her eyes. Her mother was having a secret affair with this man and her reason for keeping it from Trinny was written plainly in her mother’s precise hand.
She wrote that Trinny would never approve of the man who worked for their shipping company. He didn’t come from wealth or an affluent family. But he had “ambitions.”
Trinny’s mind darted to that notation about withdrawing funds from a CD. Could that be her mother’s reason for doing so?
She skimmed down the page further, pausing on another reason her mother hid this man from her only child.
The man was Trinny’s age.
The next line had her stomach dropping from all the vicious venom dripping from her mother’s pen.
If they ever meet, my love will take one look at the fresh flower of youth on my daughter and trade me in for the younger model.
The book fell from Trinny’s hand. Sucking in deep breaths, she tried to see through her haze of pain and anger. How could a mother see her own child as competition? Yet, deep down, hadn’t Trinny always known it to be true?
Everything clicked into place. Her mother urging Trinny to go off and explore the world really kept Trinny far away from her. Even before her mother began dating this man, she always wanted to keep Trinny away from her friends, out of her life.
Hot tears streamed down her cheeks. Their relationship suddenly made sense now, and even though it cut her to read those words and finally understand, a boulder felt lifted off her and all she felt was a cool rush of relief.
She picked up the book off the floor. There was one more entry on that page that forced her to open it one more time.
