"Okay, we're all one big happy family now, so maybe I could get some sort of explanation as to how I fit into this?"

With Franziska appeased and Justin in the room, I swiveled my chair around and fell into it with an exhausted sigh. With my weight off my ankle, I realized just how much of a strain I'd placed on it during that rather strenuous morning. I groaned with the ache and massaged the throbbing joint, but neither of the love birds took notice. They were too lost in each other's eyes.

I let them have their moment, though. With them distracted, it felt like I was alone in the room, which allowed me to breathe easier. My muscles eased, releasing the tension that had kept them taut and ready to spring. Eventually, though, Franziska sighed and pulled away from her amorous companion.

"I'd like a proper explanation too," she said, rising back on her feet and grabbing one of the other conference chairs. "I'm getting the sense that... what's your name again?"

"Danielle, but people call me Dani."

"That Danielle here isn't a threat," she continued. "However, that doesn't change the fact that you called her your fiancee in front of your family and that I'm just a coworker."

"Yes," said Justin with a shaky smile and a wring of his hands. "I... I can explain." Instead of joining us around the table, he took to pacing the rather cramped room, his eyes studying the laminate flooring. "Okay, so to start, Dani, you should know that Fran and I have been together for three years."

"Wow," I muttered with the painful realization that I'd spent the last six months crushing on a guy that was well beyond my reach. "Congratulations..."

"Wait," he said, holding up a finger, though he didn't stop staring at the floor, "don't interrupt, I need to get momentum to do this and pausing will only make things more confusing."

"Okay."

I glanced over at Franziska, who didn't return my gaze, but watched Justin intently as he took a deep breath and paused his frantic march to look us in the eye.

"So I met her while working in Germany. However, despite us getting serious, I never told my parents or my family about us. Instead, I lied to them and made up these imaginary girlfriends."

I had to bite back my initial reaction to demand why, but a single glance of his eyes stilled my tongue and with another breath, he continued to explain.

"You see, shortly before I met Fran, Wes was left at the altar." My heart dropped as Justin confirmed my fears. I bit the inside of my cheek to keep myself from showing it while Justin continued, unaware of my struggle. "His fiancee... well, she didn't mesh with the family, I guess." He ran a hand through his hair and frowned at the memory. "Really, my family is just prone to sticking their noses where they don't belong. We're a proud bunch and the family business's success has led to a sense of entitlement among certain members of our extended family."

For a moment, I wondered what exactly that business was and if Justin and Wes were in that business together. I knew Wes worked in one of the most prominent buildings in the city's skyline, but I didn't know for which company. And I knew Justin was a sales manager for Berger and Smith, but that couldn't be the family company when Sanders wasn't in the name. Of course, names change throughout the years.

"I didn't want to put Fran through that, so I started lying. For a long time though, I just didn't mention my love life at all, but you know how moms can be... She wants a grandchild, so she's desperate for a wedding. Of course, she couldn't pester Wes about it, not after Rita left him and obviously, Brendan and Lucy are still too young for that sort of thing, so it was all thrown on me. I've got some pretty tough skin, but my mom can wear anyone down." A light laugh shifted into a sigh and Justin scratched the back of his neck while his tongue emptied of words.

My brow, however, raised with the unanswered questions on my lips. I looked to see if Fran would ask them first, but I saw her nodding with sympathy instead.

"There's something you're still not telling me," I said, looking back at Justin. "I get you might be hesitant to put another woman in the line of fire with your family after what happened to, um, your brother, but I still don't understand why after all this time, you didn't bite the bullet. I mean, at some point you may consider marriage and then what would you have done? Eloped with no intention of telling your parents?"

"Yes, well, you see," struggled Justin, "anyone looking at Fran and my relationship out of context..."

"They'd see a married woman who had an affair and then tried to lock in Justin's love for a green card," answered Fran with stiff resolve. "He warned me about his family and we had plans in place to work around it, but he hadn't told me about the imaginary girlfriends and certainly didn't tell me some of them weren't so imaginary."

"She was just inspiration," pleaded Justin.

"I know it's not my place," I muttered, uncertain I could ask, but still feeling they owed me the answer. "But what is the other context here? Were you somehow not having an affair?"

"My husband," said Franziska, turning towards me, savoring her words before continuing. "No, my ex-husband—I'm still learning to let him go—he had me trapped in a loveless marriage. He expected me to give him all I had, to let him take as he saw fit, and that I should feel blessed to be his kept woman, while the other girls he ran around with were merely toys for him to play with. He took all the strength out of me. I was just a shadow of myself when Justin found me."

"We got to know each other first," Justin added. "She didn't just leap into my arms, but eventually we wanted to date in full and by then she regained some of her spirit and was ready to get a divorce. However, such a thing was a slap across his face and he wouldn't allow it."

"In Germany, however," continued Fran, "if you live separately for three years, it doesn't matter what he wants—the divorce would happen. So once I had the strength to, I moved out and began dating Justin. However, I thought it would suit me better to do so quietly. My ex-husband wields far more power than I do in Germany, and I needed to keep my working relationships secure to survive."

"Unfortunately," growled Justin, "that asshole wanted to make her life a living hell the moment she moved out."

"He dragged my name through the dirt, telling all his colleagues that I was into certain unsavory fetishes and making up stories about the things he'd caught me doing. Like Justin, I work in sales, and my clients no longer had an interest in dealing with me."

"I tried to support her as best as I could, but we knew we couldn't keep doing this for three years."

"So," said Franziska, raising her chin up as she took a deep breath, "I stopped considering his feelings and Justin and I went public. I took Justin everywhere, wearing the most eye-catching dresses I could, drawing attention to myself in front of his friends and colleagues so they could see me fawning over a younger man. So they could see me living an exciting life."

"His retaliation made it next to impossible for her to find any work in Germany," said Justin with a sigh, "but we drained my bank account, anyway. It was worth it to see him suffer. Eventually, after a year of this, he folded, and the divorce was finalized. He no longer wanted to be associated with the woman Fran presented herself to be."

"Mixed with what he said about me and what I flaunted in order to infuriate him, Berlin was no longer a place I could call home. So for the past year, Justin has been working to get me a visa so I could move to the states and be with the man I truly love." She looked over at Justin, her eyes glistening as she tried to tame her widening smile. She grabbed his hands and gave them a loving squeeze. "To be with my fiancé, to marry a man who will finally treat me right."