“We were not exclusive.”
“When did things change?”
“When I told him that I could no longer do this casually. That I wanted more... some sort of commitment. I honestly thought he’d end things. You know men can be fickle when it comes to commitment.”
I got no sympathy smile from her.
“Anyway, he surprised me. Said his feelings for me had deepened too.”
“Did he propose then?”
“Yes. It was... as I said, completely unexpected. He didn’t even have a ring.” In a flash of inspiration, I added, “He made this very romantic gesture where he had an employee from Tiffany’s bring by a selection at my place so we could choose together.” I held up my hand, pointing to my ring finger. “Isn’t it gorgeous?”
There. She could check with the store employee and confirm this story.
“How long have you lived together?”
“Two months, I think? He’d been house hunting for a while, but when we decided to take the next step, he involved me in the process too. We had an excellent realtor. Her name is Darla Lopez. She showed us this beautiful house, and I fell in love with it. Hunter bought it right away.”
She pursed her lips, jotting down notes.
“He bought it? You didn’t buy it together?”
“It’s in both our names,” I said, almost through gritted teeth.
“What is your morning routine?”
“I do thirty minutes of yoga, then hop in the shower. He exercises in the evening, so he sleeps in every morning.”
“What kind of aftershave does he use?”
“You’re kidding, right? I barely remember the name of my own body lotion.”
“What’s his favorite food? What is yours?”
“We both like steaks.”
The officer threw question after question at me. I also detected some classic witness interrogation tra
ps, such as rephrasing a question several times in the hope that the subject would give different answers.
My experience as a lawyer served me well. I didn’t fumble. Still, once she was out of my office and I slumped back in my chair, I discovered that I was shaking slightly. I needed to get a grip on myself, because I had a phone conference in twenty minutes.
I used the break to head to the bathroom and splash some much-needed cold water on my face. That went well, didn’t it?
Or was I being overly optimistic?
Shit. I had to let Hunter know—warn him in case he’d be questioned too. I hurried back to my office and sent him a quick message.
Josie: An immigration agent just came into work. I think it went okay.
I wanted to give him more details, but I came up blank. The adrenaline still hadn’t left my system and it was making it very hard to focus. Damn it, Josie. Pull yourself together. You have a conference call with a client.
I could ask my assistant to postpone it, but I didn’t want to give anyone any reason to doubt me. I could pass off the agent’s visit as work related. But if I cancelled a meeting right afterward? Someone might put two and two together.
The phone call was scheduled in one of the conference rooms, where we had a professional sound and image system.
I left my office armed with a legal pad and a pen, as well as the client’s file, and casually stopped by my assistant’s desk.