Daniel turned to pick up the camera, but it was gone.

“There a problem, Daniel?” A menacing triumph rang in David’s voice.

Daniel lifted folders and tilted photo frames while he swung frantic glances around his desk. “My camera was here a moment ago.”

Sharon pointed to his desk. “Your phone is right there. Why not just use that?”

Daniel stood back from his desk at a complete loss. Had Monique picked it up?

David’s fingers rapped an angry tattoo on his armrest. “Just use your phone! I’ve got a job interview straight after this.”

Daniel reached for his phone, defeated and angry. He held it up with a limp enthusiasm as Sharon offered another smile. David traded his scowl for a sarcastic grin.

Daniel flopped into his chair as the couple looked to him to start their conversation. He threw surreptitious glances left and right—where was it? He had to get his head back in the game, and he blinked hard to reengage with the crumbling marriage in front of him. He shoved aside the confusion over the camera and grabbed a notepad, ready to save another marriage with no extra help.

*  *  *

“So that’s the best advice you’ve got? Open up? Hold no secrets?” David tapped an angry finger on his cheek as he slouched in his chair. “I could get that from ten minutes of watching Dr. Phil, and it would also save me a fortune.”

Daniel was expecting this. Again the topic of David’s baggage had come up, and again he’d slammed the door shut on any discussion about it.

David leaned forward, elbows perched on his knees, and sneered in Daniel’s direction. “She said you were a hotshot counselor with a bestselling book. Bestselling? Where did you get that information?”

A crack scooted down Daniel’s self-control, and an ear-splitting shatter echoed in his head. “How dare you!”

David sat stunned, not expecting his bait to be swallowed.

The veins in Daniel’s neck throbbed as he pointed an angry finger at the man who was now retreating into his chair. “You come in here, full of righteous anger and unforgiveness you clearly enjoy, unwilling to accept any responsibility for your life. You reject the heartfelt apology from your wife and put her through extra hell while you force her to suffer the fallout from your inability to take responsibility for yourself.”

Sharon blinked hard at Daniel. David’s chest resumed its heaving.

Daniel eased away from his clients, trying desperately to screw a lid back on his famed self-control.

Two words burst from David as he stood in a rush, and then he disappeared into the corridor in a huff.

An apology formed on Daniel’s lips, but it hung there, unuttered, as Sharon burst into tears.