“How do you even know them?”
“Do you really want the details of the chain of events that led us all here?”
“Yes, Oliver. I actually do.”
“Fine. I didn’t want to make Sophie feel worse, given my association with you, so I called her friend Nora to find out how she’s doing. From Nora, I learned that Sophie has yet to hear from you, aside from a poor excuse for a text Monday night. That was almost a week ago, Cox. You dealt with Althea, but since then, you’ve been locked in your office, burying yourself in work. And now you’re day drinking. I had to do something.”
Shepherd nodded to a table, then he and Corban took a seat.
I decided I might as well cooperate, so I got off my stool. “And you called them? They want me dead right now. You realize that, right?”
“Well it’s not like you’re going to listen to me.”
“Wonderful.” I went over to the table and sat across from Corban. “Gentlemen. I’m afraid we’ll have to make this quick. I’m meeting my mother for a round of golf and I won’t hear the end of it if I’m late.”
“Your mother won’t be joining you today,” Shepherd said.
“Excuse me?”
“She’s occupied with a golf lesson.”
“Since when?” I asked.
Shepherd’s expression didn’t change. “Since nine-thirty.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“I brought in Leonard Wick.”
My brow furrowed. “Isn’t he the current PGA champion?”
“I believe so.”
I turned to Oliver. “Did you know about this?”
He shrugged. “Would you have preferred we do this while playing a round of golf with Georgia?”
“No,” I said with a scowl and shifted my gaze to Shepherd and Corban. “Fine. Let’s get this over with. Go ahead, do your worst.”
“That’s actually not why we’re here,” Corban said.
Shepherd stared daggers at me. “Yes it is.”
“Well, it’s why he’s here, but he can be pretty single-minded.”
“See?” I said to Oliver. “Good cop, bad cop again. Next he’ll start talking about lobsters.”
“Why haven’t you spoken to Sophie?” Shepherd asked.
“I don’t see how that’s any of your business,” I said. He opened his mouth to reply, but I kept talking. “I know, I know, your wives are her best friends and you’re like the overprotective brothers she never had. I get it. But I don’t need you to threaten me with bodily harm or financial ruin to know that I fucked up. I’m already well aware of that. So I’m sorry you wasted your time and money, but thanks for setting up my mom with a pro golf lesson. I’m sure it’ll be the highlight of her year.”
“So that’s it?” Shepherd asked.
“Cox, I was at the fashion show,” Corban said. “I saw the way you looked at her. That wasn’t the face of a man about to serve divorce papers.”
“In point of fact, I didn’t serve those papers on her. My ex-lawyer did.”
“So why haven’t you explained that to her?” he asked.
“What the fuck do I say? I’m sorry I trusted my backstabbing lawyer instead of you? I’m sorry I believed the awful things she said about you, even for a second?”
“Yeah, that’s a good start,” Corban said.
Shepherd nodded. “Actually, it is.”
“As if it’s that simple,” I said.
“Maybe it is,” Corban said. “Do you love her?”
I looked down at the table, wishing I’d ordered that second drink. “It doesn’t matter now.”
“No, it does matter,” he said. “I’ve made a career out of studying the process of falling in love. Sometimes it’s the only thing that matters. So answer the question. Do you love her?”
I could practically feel all three of them staring at me. “I do. I love her like fucking crazy.”
“I told you,” Corban said, nudging Shepherd with his elbow. “We don’t have to kill him. We just have to get him to quit wallowing in guilt and self-hatred so he can fix this.”
“I’m not wallowing in guilt and self-hatred.”
Oliver snorted.
“If I am, it’s because everything was perfect and I fucked it up.”
“Yes, you did,” Shepherd said. “So what are you going to do about it?”
There was something about the way he said that, with an edge to his voice that was sharper than a razor blade. It wasn’t just a question. It was a challenge. Almost a dare.
“Wait.” I held up a hand, feeling like I’d just been splashed with cold water. “Am I reading this right? You came here to kill me, unless I admitted I was wrong and wanted to fix things with Sophie?”
Corban shrugged. “Basically, yeah.”
“Which means you two think I have a shot at it.”
“You might,” Shepherd said.
“It’s not a small mountain to climb,” Corban said. “But if you love her, you’re already halfway there.”
“And they have it on good authority that she loves you,” Oliver said. “It would be a shame to walk away from the love of a woman like Sophie, don’t you think?”
“That it would,” I said absently.
She loves you.
Suddenly, the wheels started turning. I was Camden fucking Cox. A go-getter and a hustler. A man who pursued what he wanted relentlessly and never gave up until he got it. That was what had gotten me to where I was today.
That guy didn’t give up. Especially when the stakes were high.
And they’d never been higher.
She loves you.
Did she?
“Holy shit. She does. Fuck, I’m such an idiot.”
“No one’s going to argue that point,” Oliver said.
Ignoring him, I stood so fast, my chair almost fell over. “I have to go save my marriage.”
I was out the door and ready to make the necessary calls in an instant. I already had the beginnings of a plan. It might not be enough. I believed them when they said Sophie loved me, and me loving her back was not the problem. I loved her so much, I wondered if it would kill me.
The question was, did she love me enough to forgive me?
It wouldn’t be enough to tell her how I felt, although I was still kicking myself for not saying it sooner. I was a fucking idiot, but maybe it wasn’t too late to come back from this.
I just had to show her what she meant to me. Show her how much I loved her. How she’d stumbled her way into my heart and I never wanted to let her go.
And then maybe we could toss those goddamn divorce papers in a fire. Because Sophie was mine.
36
Sophie
In some ways, it was good to be back at work. Mr. Calloway had been more than generous, giving me last week off. That was certainly a perk to being best friends with your boss’s wife. I didn’t want to think about what a mess I would have been if I’d had to be in the office.
Then again, I might not have adopted two breakup pets. But even though Mr. Fuzzykins, aka Camden the hamster, had bit me… and even though my cat Maddie was afraid of everything and mostly hid under the bed, I’d already grown so attached to those two fuzzballs. They weren’t as good as having Cox in my life—not even close—but when I did move back to my apartment, I would be glad I’d have them to keep me company.