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“Man, you were mad.” Del’s gaze roved from the screen to him and back. She hit play again, then Mia did the same. “But why would a single tweet send you running from the Big Apple?”
Isaac grimaced. “It might not have if Will and I had kept our mouths shut. But the tweet got shared thousands of times, and soon people weren’t just hating on me but also on our company. We tried to defend ourselves, pointing out the slight lag in the video at the two- and ten-second marks, but we’d already been deemed guilty by the court of Twitter. Things got really ugly, really fast.”
“So, what happened next?” Del asked. “Did you confront her? Because you know damn well, I would have.”
“Yes, but—Wait, does this mean you believe me?”
Del exchanged a confused look with her sister. “Well, yeah. In all the time I’ve known you, you’ve never once said anything derogatory about women. And you’re right—if you watch the clip enough, you can see those tiny lags in the video. So, why wouldn’t we believe you?”
He slumped back into his seat as the weight of the world lifted off his shoulders. “Because several hundred thousand other people didn’t.”
“Wow. Then clearly there’s a lot of idiots in the world. Now get back to the story. What happened next?”
He smirked. Her tenacity was awesome. What had he done to deserve a girlfriend like her?
“Well, like I said, Will absolutely freaked out. When Katrina refused to take the video down, we called the staff in and showed it to them. Wanted to get everything on the table so they could ask me any questions they might have. I can’t tell you what a relief it was to hear them denounce her and pledge to stand by me while we figured this mess out. After a long discussion, we decided that the best next move was not to provoke her further and see if the fire would put itself out. That was beforeThe Viewpicked up on it and aired a short feature about corporate bullying. And of course, they tossed one of our new hashtags into the commentary.”
Del and Mia grimaced.
“Yeah, it wasn’t pretty. The following Monday, we lost our first client. By midweek, three more were threatening to cancel their contracts and five future clients revoked our bid submittals. Fearing our company was on the verge of collapse, I volunteered to disappear for a while. Will’s aunt and uncle had left him this place years ago, so it seemed the logical choice. I’ve been able to work remotely while the rest of the team carries on. Will hired a PR firm to help craft simple statements denying the allegations, and the general public thinks Robert Manning is still on sabbatical.”
“So what you’re saying is, you’re only hiding out in Bourbon Falls until all of this blows over,” Mia said.
Leave it to Mia to cut to the chase.
He looked to Del, who now sat still as stone. As much as he hated to admit the truth, there was no point in lying while trying to earn her trust. “Yes.”
*
Del rose fromher seat and began to pace along her father’s back patio, waiting for the shock of Isaac’s confession to subside. His moving here was just…temporary? When exactly had he planned to tell her this?
She looked to Mia, who was watching her closely. Probably because she expected Del to flip out like she had when she’d found out about Jonathan and his other life. And while, yes, Isaac had kept secrets from her, this was different. Jonathan had knowingly been living dual lives—who knows, maybe even more than that—stringing multiple women along. His actions had been driven by greed and arrogance. Isaac was living two lives, haunted by fear and the stupid social media. So, unless some secret fiancée popped up out of the bushes, Del had no reason to flip out. In truth, she felt badly for Isaac…and a whole lot of rage toward this crazy Katrina woman.
“Of course, if Will finds out I’ve told you this, he’ll go ballistic.”
“Then why risk it?” Del asked.
“Because not telling you was starting to eat me alive. Will and I agreed not to tell anyone outside our company about this, not just to protect me but the whole team. That’s why I’ve been hiding at my place all these months—I was tryingnotto meet anyone so there’d be no chance of me breaking that promise. But then Brooklyn came sliding into my landscaping, and her protective aunt came charging in to save her.”
“For which I am entirely grateful.” Mia sighed. “I’m sorry that you’ve been publicly and unfairly dragged through the mud, Isaac. Thank you for sharing your story with us. And please forgive me for barging in on your dinner. After putting two and two together at the bookstore the other night, my protective big sister mode kicked into overdrive. I’ve seen Del get hurt by lies before, and I worried it was happening all over again. If there’s anything I can do to help, please count me in.”
“Thanks, Sis.”
“Thank you, Mia. And I don’t blame you for wanting to protect Del. I’ve been trying to do that, too.”
Once Mia had gone, Isaac rose and came to stand before Del, blocking her path. She stared at his chest, too chicken to look him in the eyes. Because those warm, brown eyes of his would be silently asking for her forgiveness and understanding. And she, caring deeply for him like she did, would offer him both, even if his story’s underlying message was a hard pill to swallow.
Isaac wasn’t staying.
“You’ve been hurt by lies before?”
Del grimaced. As if her mind wasn’t churning enough already, now Mia had dropped that little tidbit before leaving. But she didn’t want to dredge out old, unpleasant memories; she wanted to be in the here and now, before the relationship rug got yanked out from under once again. She stepped around him to take a seat on the patio’s top step. Isaac followed, settling onto the space beside her.
“Let’s just say the guy I was seeing after college wasn’t entirely forthcoming with his plans for the future.”
“You mean like holding out on not wanting to get married or have kids?”
She snorted. If only it’d been something that simple.
