She knew it was Harlan, of course, the walking catastrophe, the living human lightning rod for all things gone afoul. She also knew that the world wasn’t fair quite a bit of the time, and maybe—just maybe—Harlan had spend a little more time at the bad end of the stick than was reasonable. And thinking about it now, she had to consider that perhaps their marriage hadn’t worked because of that. Harlan Garrett was arrogant, opinionated, and…arrogant. He firmly believed in some of the most ludicrous things, and did not respond well to disagreement. But he was also a pretty decent guy when one got down to it. And not a bad lover, she admitted. But no man could have confidence in a marriage and in love if he didn’t have confidence in himself. Bad luck had batted Harlan out of the park too many times—mostly through his own doing, yes—but in truth, he was always doing what he believed was right. Perhaps that’s why the marriage had soured all too quickly. Deep down Harlan couldn’t be the man he really was because ill fortune wouldn’t allow it.
