Page 80 of On the Line

I enter Sophia’s phone number into a text message and hope I don’t regret what I find out.

Jameson

Hi Sophia, my name is Jameson Flynn. I was Josh Emerson’s sports agent and the executor of his will and trust.

I don’t expect an instantaneous response, but I get one.

Sophia

I know who you are.

Jameson

Okay.

I didn’t know about your relationship with Josh until a couple days ago, or I’d have reached out sooner.

Sophia

I was kind of hoping no one knew about that relationship, to be honest. But I’m not surprised that it’s gotten out.

Jameson

So you knew that he was married?

Sophia

No ... not until this past November.

Wait, what?How could she have known him for two years, since before his girls were even born, and not known he was married?

Jameson

That brings up a lot more questions.

Sophia

Do you want to call me? Seems like it’d be easier to talk about this over the phone?

I hit the call icon on my phone screen and then put it on speakerphone. I’m already up and pacing around my hotel room.

“Hey,” I say when she answers the phone. “I’m sorry to contact you under these circumstances.”

“I’m sorry that I’m involved in this at all,” she says following a heavy sigh.

“The reason I’m reaching out is that when I executed Josh’s will and trust, I didn’t know he was involved with someone outside his marriage.”

“I didn’t know he was still married. I’d only been with Josh for about six months before he died,” she says, “but we’d known each other for a couple years through mutual ski friends. We’d done a lot of trips together, and when he and his wife separated—or at least, that’s what he told me at the time—he made his move.”

“So you thought they weren’t together anymore?”

“He told me they were separated and getting divorced. We kept everything between us a secret because he was still in the middle of divorce proceedings and didn’t want his wife to be able to use our relationship against him in the divorce.”

I don’t know if this makes it better or worse? Certainly I don’t think as badly of her if she was duped by Josh, but maybe it makes it even worse for Lauren—this isn’t a case of her husband being lured away by another woman, this is him intentionally going out and finding someone else while lying about his relationship.

“I’m sorry he put you in that position. It sounds like he was lying to a lot of people.”

She huffs out a scoff. “Yeah, you could say that. I figured it out right before his last trip in November, and I broke things off with him.”

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