“Apparently.”
“And you never looked her up afterward?”
“No.”
“Not once?”
“I spent months trying to stop thinking about her. Looking up her life felt like volunteering to be hurt.”
That I understood.
“When we walked into the reception,” he continued, “I saw Vanessa. Then Mason looked at me.”
“He recognized you.”
“Immediately.”
“How?”
Julian exhaled.
“I confronted Vanessa’s affair partner once.”
My eyes widened.
“What?”
“I didn’t know his name. I saw them together outside a hotel. I followed them to the parking garage.”
“You confronted Mason?”
“For maybe thirty seconds. He told me Vanessa had made her choice and I should accept it.”
My jaw dropped.
That sounded exactly like Mason.
“He knew she was engaged to you.”
“Yes.”
“And he still…”
“Yes.”
I looked back toward the glowing vineyard.
Somewhere inside, Mason was probably still trying to save his reception.
I suddenly laughed.
Julian stared at me.
