Free Sins of the Heart by Sarah Hoss

stood their ground. This was about Margo?
    “Do you think I could forget her? Christ.” Aiden shook his head. “I loved her. I was the one who wanted a relationship.”
    “Oh, and she didn’t? Is that what you are telling me?”
    “That’s what I’m saying. All she wanted was someone to lift her standing within the community and I was the key to doing so.”
    He took a step closer. “You son of a bitch, she is in the ground not four years and you speak so badly of her.”
    “Why do you think I broke it off with her?”
    “She said it was because you were cheating on her and decided to be with the other woman.” He clasped his fist in front of his chest and massaged it as if he ached to punch him.
    Grant calculated his thoughts. He had to be careful of what he said not knowing how short this man’s fuse was. Clearly, Margo had been telling him lies.
    He sighed. “That night.” He paused as it all came back to him again. He could smell her perfume, see the way her necklace sparkled in the light of the restaurant. “I had gone to the restaurant with a ring in my pocket. I was going to propose during dessert. In the middle of the meal, her phone went off and she excused herself. After a few minutes, I went looking for her, just to make sure she was all right.”
    In the hallway where the bathrooms were, a Harry Belafonte song played. He didn’t see her standing there. He returned to the table and told the waiter they weren’t finished and he would be right back, then he walked through the restaurant to find her. She stood with her back to him over by a large palm tree in the corner of the room. It was so large that it almost hid her. He approached but stopped dead in his tracks as he overheard the conversation.
    “Yah, I’m pretty sure he’s going to ask me tonight. It’s done. Soon I will be the lady of the castle and all that it entails.” A pause. “I told you, nothing will change between us. But this is my chance to be something more. My family was left with nothing but a lot of debt hidden by a good name. I am not letting an opportunity like this pass.”
    He closed his eyes. They weren’t kidding when they said love was blind and he’d been living in the dark way too long. He turned and headed back to his table. Thoughts of what to do absorbed his every move, so much that he nearly knocked over a vase and ran into a waiter. He had to end it. How?
    Ordering a whiskey shot, he waited for her to come back. She was all smiles as she approached, apologized for being gone so long, and explained that her girlfriend had just had a fight with her husband and needed to talk.
    “I ordered us some dessert.”
    “Thank you.” She adjusted herself in her seat.
    “There is something I want to tell you.”
    She smiled, and he knew that she was thinking, Here it comes.
    “I’m listening.”
    She took a sip of her wine.
    He downed the shot. He felt uncomfortable sitting here. He suddenly wanted to be any place but here. Scratching his cheek, he then rubbed his forehead.
    “Grant, what is it?”
    Here it goes. “I am ending our relationship. I’m sorry.”
    She continued to sit, smiling as if she hadn’t heard him. Then realization hit her and she looked dumbfounded.
    “You are doing what?”
    “Breaking up with you.”
    “Why? You can’t just break up with me.”
    “I can and I am. As for why, I think you can handle only one man in your life and it isn’t going to be me.”
    Her face turned an ugly shade of pink then red. “I haven’t the faintest idea of what you are talking about.”
    He worked his jaw as his anger grew. “Don’t think me the fool. You have another man on the side. That’s who called tonight. Well, he can have you.”
    Grant waved the waiter over and asked for the bill.
    Margo ripped the napkin off of her lap and through it on the table. They continued to argue for a few minutes longer until she stood up and left the table. Throwing money on the table near the bill, he jumped