“Brandon . . . I owe you an apology.”

“For?”

“Leaving so abruptly. Without saying good-bye.” She gave him a guilty look as she took a bite and slid the spoon from her mouth. “That was pretty crappy.”

“I’m a grown-up. I can take it.”

She watched him. “You weren’t pissed off?”

“No. What pissed me off was the lying.”

She sighed and dug her spoon in again.

“Okay, but admit it was a lie of omission. And it had more to do with attorney-client privilege than me trying to proactively deceive you.” She dug up another spoonful. “You have stuff like that, too. It’s not like you go around telling me all the details of the cases you’re working.”

He made a noncommittal sound as he ate another bite.

“Can you at least admit that it’s not the same as lying lying?”

He leaned over the ice cream and kissed her nose.

“What is it with lawyers? You always want an admission out of people.”

“Questioning should always have an objective,” she said.

He sighed. “I will admit, it is a little different. But lying is a thing for me.”

She squirmed closer. “Why?”

“I don’t know. It’s a hang-up I have.”

“Yes, but why?

He didn’t answer, and she gazed at him with those deep green eyes.

“Tell me about this hang-up you have.”

*   *   *

Leigh watched him, wondering if he was going to open up to her finally, or say something evasive.

He reached over her and put his spoon on the end table, then rested his hand on her knee.

“Did I ever mention I was married once?”

“No. But I knew that,” she said.

He lifted an eyebrow.

“I looked you up online.”

He didn’t react to that, probably because she’d told him as much when she showed up at his house like a stalker.

“What happened?” she asked.

He seemed uneasy talking about this, and she resisted the urge to do something soothing, like stroke the top of his hand. She had a feeling he wouldn’t like that.

“Basically, we were really young and immature. Twenty-two.” He gave her a sharp look, as if it were obvious no one should get married that young. “I was gone a lot with work. She got depressed for a while and then she slept with someone else. Lied to me about it.” He paused. “We tried to work it out, but things weren’t the same after. I didn’t trust her.”

Leigh watched him in the dimness. A dark layer of stubble covered his jaw, and she wanted to run her finger over it. But she didn’t want to distract him, not when she was hanging on every word.

“Were you in love when you got married?”

“Yeah.”

He said it without hesitation.

“I was.” He looked at her suspiciously. “How did we get on this topic?”

“You were talking about your hang-up.”