“I have to go.” She grabbed her purse from her chair as she passed it.
“Okay.” Both women flanked her as she hurried for the door, leaving behind the McMillans.
When they reached the sidewalk, Libby grabbed her shoulder and spun her around. “Blair, slow down. Tell us why you’re crying.”
“I’m not crying!” But when she reached up to touch her face, her cheeks were wet.
“What happened?” Megan asked softly.
And that was what pushed her over the edge. Megan’s kindness. She couldn’t handle softness, not now. She choked on a sob but swallowed it back down. “I have to go.”
“We’ll go with you,” Megan said.
Blair glanced at the entrance to the bar. It surprised her that Garrett hadn’t followed her out. In truth, it disappointed her too. The thought sent a new wave of terror through her, and she felt the desperate need to be alone.
“No.” She took a deep breath, forcing all the escaped emotions back into the cracks from which they’d oozed. Only they wouldn’t go back. Now that they were loose, they refused to be tamed.
An empty cab turned the corner, and Blair flagged it down. She had to get away. She had to escape from her friends’ sympathy. It was unbearable.
The taxi stopped, and she opened the door, pausing only to glance back at her stunned friends. “I have to go. I’ll see you both tomorrow night.”
“Blair.”
Blair climbed into the car and shut the door.
“Where to?” the driver asked.
Where to, indeed. There was only one place on earth she wanted to be, and she wasn’t willing to take the risk. Which meant she had nowhere to go at all.
Chapter Twenty-One
Melissa took one look at Blair’s swollen eyes the next morning and brought her a cup of coffee, shutting the door behind her. Still, typical Melissa, she set the cup on her desk and ignored the elephant in the room. “The only thing on your schedule today is your consultation. Do you want to leave at noon and join Neil and his family?”
“No.” That was the very last thing she wanted to do. “I think I’ll stick around and work.”
Melissa nodded. “You’ll need to go home and change for the rehearsal. Do you have a dress picked out?”
“For the hoedown?” she snorted. “Yes.”
Melissa left without comment, and Blair got to work. She became so engrossed in her computer that she was caught off guard when Melissa buzzed to tell her that her consultation had arrived.
“Send her in.”
Blair hadn’t been expecting a young woman. Her clients were typically in their forties and fifties, but the woman entering her office had to be in her late twenties or early thirties.
Blair stood and walked around the desk. “Mrs. Cooper. Please, come in.” She met the woman in the middle of the room and held out her hand. “I’m Blair Hansen.”
“I expected you to be older,” the woman said, looking Blair up and down.
Blair smiled. “And I could say the same about you. How did you hear about me?”
“You represented my mother. She said you fought tooth and nail for her. When I suspected Thomas . . .” She paused. “I knew who I had to call.”
Blair motioned her toward her small conference table. “Thank you for the confidence. Why don’t we sit, and you can give me your side of things.”
The young woman told her story, and Blair took notes. In many ways, it was similar to her other cases. The couple had started out young and in love, but for the past several months, Leslie Cooper had suspected her husband of cheating on her. As Blair listened, a cold chill washed over her. Leslie was a beautiful, intelligent woman. Why would her husband cheat on her?
“So did you catch him?” Blair asked.
“No.”
Blair glanced up. “Do you know who he’s having an affair with?”
“No.”
Blair set down her pen. “What did he say when you confronted him?”
“He swears he didn’t do it. That he loves me.”
“So why do you think he’s lying?”
She looked sad. “He’s just so cold. So distant.”
“Is he working out more? Putting more care into his appearance?”
“No.” She looked confused. “No more than usual.”
“Is he having trouble at work?”
“Yeah, he has issues with his boss.”
Blair took a deep breath. “Leslie, I would be happy to represent you should it come to a divorce, but I think what you need is a private investigator or a marriage counselor.”
“But . . .”
“We’ll need names and some type of proof he’s cheated on you to build a stronger case. And if your only hint that he’s been unfaithful is that he’s acting distant, I suspect he’s merely preoccupied with the possibility of losing his job.”
Leslie looked surprised.
Blair rested a forearm on the table. “Do you still love him?”
Tears filled her eyes. “Yes.”
“Then fight for your marriage. Don’t give up on him so easily.” Like she’d done with Garrett five years ago. “But if you do find proof or you decide you still want a divorce, come back and I’ll help you in any way I can.”
“Thank you.” Relief washed over her face.
Blair watched her walk out of her office, and Melissa came in several minutes later. “Do you have a new client?”