Free A Matter of Trust by LazyDay Publishing Page B

about you, is that right?” Eva watched her
patiently as she reached for another chip.
    “ I guess so. I mean I
really like him. He’s wonderful. I respect him, and he’s great with
the kids.”
    “ So, what’s the problem?”
Eva dipped her chip into the salsa. “You make him sound pretty
good, so I’m confused. What is it about him you don’t
like?”
    “ I can’t think of a thing
I don’t like.” Trish’s blue eyes looked at her friends and blinked
to keep the tears at bay.
    Callie looked at her with a confused
expression on her face. “What am I missing?”
    Eva said, “I’m thinking this has less
to do with Jake and more to do with Pete, am I right?”
    “ I guess. Maybe. I’m so
confused.” Trish sat back and huffed out a breath.
    Callie patted her friend’s hand again.
“Okay, Trish, let’s break this down. You like and respect my
brother. He’s great with the kids, and he’s great in bed. But,
because of Pete, you don’t want to be with Jake? Do you feel
unfaithful, sweetie, because if so, Pete’s dead, and you can’t die
with him.”
    “ No, no it’s nothing like
that. I guess I’d better fill in some blanks. Pete had problems. I
mean, he had big problems. Right before Pete died, I’d filed for
divorce and had every intention of leaving him and moving back to
El Paso.”
    “ Can I ask what kind of
problems Pete had?” Callie continued to watch Trish
closely.
    Trish took a deep breath. “Mostly
gambling problems. Remember I mentioned Pete had made some bad
investments that caused us – me – to file for bankruptcy? They
weren’t investments, they were gambling debts. Pete had a major
gambling problem, and I didn’t find out about it until we were in
financial ruin. In fact, the way I found out about it was when the
sheriff showed up at my front door and told me that we were being
evicted and had to be out of the house within a week.”
    “ Holy shit, Trish. That
must’ve been terrible. I’m so sorry.” Callie squeezed her hand and
encouraged her to go on.
    “ It was terrible. I
thought there just had to be some kind of mistake. Pete paid the
bills, and I had no idea he took the money we made and gambled with
it. We lost the house, one of the cars – the other car I’d had
before we were married, and it was under my name, so that made it
more difficult to borrow against it. I had to sell all the
furniture and anything else that still belonged to us to cover a
portion of the debts he’d racked up, but that barely touched it. I
had to declare bankruptcy . When everything hit the fan, and I
figured out what had happened, I told Pete I was taking the kids
and moving back to El Paso and filing for divorce.”
    Eva touched her arm. “I’m so sorry,
Trish, you must have been so scared.”
    “ Yes, but I was also angry
at Pete and at myself for trusting him so blindly and not seeing
through him until I’d lost everything. My poor babies. Trevor still
doesn’t understand why we had to move, and I don’t have a clue how
to explain it to him. Nobody knows the truth except you two now. I
was too ashamed to tell anyone, even my parents.”
    Eva continued to look at her friend.
“So, because of what your husband did, you are afraid to get
involved with anyone else, is that right?”
    “ I don’t know if afraid is
the right word … okay, I’m scared to death. I’ve just learned to
trust nobody but myself. I trusted Pete, and look where that landed
me. If I hadn’t had my parents to fall back on, my babies and I
would’ve been living on the streets. As it is, I can’t buy anything
on credit, and I’m living with my parents at the ripe old age of
twenty eight. Trevor misses his dad, and I don’t know what to tell
him. I’m so angry at Pete for putting us in this
position.”
    Trish looked at her friends again and
continued. “I know you’re not supposed to think ill of the dead,
but I can’t help myself. When he … died, I called the insurance
company, since we had