Sweet Trouble by Susan Mallery Page A

no longer lived there and had gone into detail as to why. Paula hadn’t wasted any time in rushing to tell her son about Jesse’s supposed affair with her sister’s husband.
    Jesse still ached with the unfairness of what had happened. She’d gotten away with so much when she’d been a teenager, then she’d been damned by something that hadn’t happened at all.
    “I never forgave her for that,” Matt said. “Not for telling me, but for being so happy about it.”
    “She’s sorry,” Jesse said, feeling that the Paula issue was more easily fixed than her own situation. “She misses you.”
    “You’re taking her side?” He sounded surprised.
    “Yes. I told you, she’s changed. She’s been great to me and Gabe. I wish she and I could have become friends five years ago. We both had you in common.”
    “You’re giving her too much credit.”
    “I don’t think so. We all make mistakes.”
    He looked at her. “Including you?”
    “My list is long and impressive, but it doesn’t include sleeping with Drew.”
    “Jesse,” he began.
    She shook her head. “No, Matt. I have to say this. I have to explain.” For the second time that day, she told the story of that horrible night. When Drew had sat on the edge of her bed and she’d poured out her heart and he’d told her she wasn’t a one-guy woman. She left out the part about finding the engagement ring, saying instead that she knew she was in love with him and terrified of messing up. An equal truth, she thought.
    “I never slept with him,” she concluded. “I never wanted to. He was wrong about me. You were the one I was in love with. Just you.”
    She couldn’t tell what he was thinking, if he believed her or not. She wished there were better words to convince him.
    “I know you’ve spent the past five years thinking the worst of me,” she said. “I know it’s going to take a little time to consider that there might be another explanation for what happened. Can you at least be open to the possibility?”
    “I can try.”
    “It’s a place to start.”
    The server returned with their bottle of wine. After she’d opened it and Matt had tasted it, she poured them each a glass and left.
    He picked up his wine. “To new beginnings.”
    She touched her glass to his and hoped new beginnings were possible.
    They ate their salads and talked about how Seattle had changed. When the entrées arrived, she asked him about his business. “When did you go out on your own?”
    “Four years ago. I had some ideas that didn’t fit in with what I’d been doing at Microsoft. With the money I had from the games I’d licensed, I was able to start up without bank financing.”
    “And keep all the profits for yourself.”
    “How do you know there are profits?” he asked.
    “I’ve seen your house.”
    “I’ve been fortunate.”
    More than that, she thought. “Now you’re the boss. How does that feel?”
    “I like it,” he admitted. “Having a staff means I can focus on what I want to do. They take care of the details.” He cut into his chicken. “You’d like my assistant. Diane. She’s opinionated and does her best to run my life.”
    “I’m surprised you allow that.”
    “I don’t, but she ignores me.”
    “Then she must be really good at her job.”
    “She is.”
    Jesse liked that Matt kept a mouthy assistant around, although she couldn’t say why. Did it make him more approachable? More like the man she remembered?
    “Are you ever going to believe me?” she asked. “Is this ever going to be okay?”
    He looked at her for a long time before reaching across the table and touching her hand. “I want it to be,” he said.
    And for now, that was enough.

CHAPTER SIX
    AFTER DINNER, MATT WALKED Jesse to her car. The meal had been an interesting combination of comfortable and awkward. They managed a few minutes of easy conversation, only to reach another bump. Jesse told herself that while she’d had years to work everything through, this