Scotty rubbed his jutting chin and took his time to answer, the way he always did. “Maybe we shouldn’t do this now, Dylan.”

“How. Long?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Probably from the day I met her. I’ve known her a lot longer than you. I think she was only eighteen back then, but I never thought of her as young. She was so smart, confident, full of herself. I knew she was way out of my league, but yeah, I guess I had a crush on her from day one. Not that I ever intended to do anything about it.”

“Or you were just biding your time. Waiting until she was vulnerable.”

“That’s not how it went down. I swear. That’s not what happened.”

“Then what did happen?”

I took a couple of steps toward him. The plastic sheeting crinkled under my feet. He watched me warily, like a fighter in the ring.

“Look, what else do you want to know? I’m sure Karly already filled you in. When she called me, she said she was going to tell you everything.”

“You talked to her? Are you kidding me? When?”

“The day after,” Scotty admitted. “She was upset, blaming herself, said she couldn’t believe she’d made such a stupid mistake. She was going to tell you the truth, and she wanted me to know. For what it’s worth, I told her to keep it to herself and not risk her marriage over this. Believe me, I knew she had no intention of leaving you for me. That’s not what it was about. Whatever that night meant to me, it was just a drunken error in judgment to her. You should know what that’s like. You’ve made enough of those yourself, am I right?”

I didn’t take the bait.

“The details, Scotty. How did it happen?”

Scotty shook his head. “I don’t know what to tell you, Dylan. Karly and I have been friends for a long time, and yeah, it’s always been more than that for me. If she knew how I felt, she was classy enough not to let on and embarrass me. But the last few months, she started telling me things. Personal things. Confiding in me about her problems. She needed to talk to someone, because you weren’t listening.”

“And there you were, with a shoulder for her to cry on.”

“You think Karly was the only one turning to someone else? She said you told your assistant Tai more than you ever told her.”

I felt slapped. “There was nothing between me and Tai. There never was. Karly knew that.”

“Did she?”

“Don’t try to put any of this on me.”