I started to talk, and then stopped again.

Matt walked over to my side, squatted to a crouch beside me, and said quietly, “Harley, if it’s something about your relationship with Aerin that you’re having a hard time talking about with us … because I can only assume that that has to be a starting point or could be relevant to all of this, right? … I ask that you give us the benefit of the doubt, alright? You and I talked about some aspect of that already.”

I gave him a small smile.

With real concern in his eyes, he continued, “When Veronica called and told me how devastated you’d looked, and then described how worried everyone had been about you because of things that had happened earlier that night, she didn’t say it outright but I assumed it was because of something that had happened between you and Aerin… ”

“And I hope you know and trust me enough to realize that if there’s anything that I can do to help, you just need to tell me …” Philip added.

“It’s hard to explain what I have to say next,” I continued. “Especially since it has to do with … Annie.”

Philip frowned and exclaimed, “Annie?! What did she do this time?”

This time?

Philip’s frown was deepening and I sensed that I should bring up the story of how Annie had precipitated all of this later. There was something else to bring up first.

My past was a burden that I’d dragged around since leaving Vegas, maybe unconsciously, and now that it had become clear Aerin was someone who would figure prominently in my future, I knew we both needed to be free and clear of this past for the sake of our future. Dragging this around had never been fair to me; and it most definitely was not fair to her.  

I should just lay it out, come clean, face possible censure, and maybe, the end of my career. That was still better than burdening the budding, bright future Aerin and I had a chance to build together. For that chance, that future with her, I would give everything I had to give. I risked catastrophic heartbreak if it didn’t work out with her, I knew; but everything in me told me that the stakes were high for her, too.