Chương 4
“Ryan called her?”
“I assume.”
Megan dropped the suitcase beside the wall.
“What did he say?”
“I haven’t asked.”
“You should probably know.”
“I probably should.”
Megan studied her for a moment.
“You want wine?”
“It’s not even six.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Emily shook her head.
“I need food.”
“There’s frozen pizza.”
“Perfect.”
Megan opened the freezer.
Emily’s phone vibrated again.
This time the message was from Ryan.
Your dad is asking what happened.
She read it twice.
Then another message appeared.
I told him you got overwhelmed.
Emily’s face went hot.
Megan saw the change.
“What?”
“He told Dad I got overwhelmed.”
Megan shut the freezer harder than necessary.
“Well, technically you did.”
Emily stared at her.
Megan lifted both hands.
“Bad joke.”
“I left because he threw something in my face and ordered me around while his mother laughed.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
The sharpness in Emily’s voice surprised both of them.
Megan’s expression closed slightly.
Emily immediately hated herself for it.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize for everything tonight.”
“I snapped at you.”
“You can apologize for that tomorrow.”
Megan slid the pizza into the oven.
“For tonight, you get one free personality defect.”
Emily sank onto a kitchen chair.
“What if I’m making this too big?”
Megan leaned against the counter.
“There it is.”
“What?”
“The thing you’ve been asking yourself since you called me.”
Emily rubbed her palms over her jeans.
“It was a rag.”
“Yes.”
“He didn’t punch me.”
“No.”
“He’s never punched me.”
“Okay.”
“He can be controlling, but people have flaws.”
“Also true.”
Emily looked up, frustrated.
“You’re not helping.”
“I’m not going to build a courtroom case for you because then you’ll spend the whole night cross-examining me.”
Megan folded her arms.
“You left.”
“That doesn’t mean leaving was right.”
“No, but you left before calling anybody.”
Emily said nothing.
Megan’s voice softened.
“You didn’t call me and ask whether you should go.”
Emily looked toward the oven.
“You packed first.”
The timer display glowed red above the stove.
Emily watched the numbers change.
Megan opened a cabinet and took down two glasses.
“You knew something before you wanted permission to know it.”
Emily hated how accurately the sentence found her.
Her phone rang again.
This time it was her father.
She answered.
“Hi, Dad.”
“Hey, kiddo.”
Thomas Carter always sounded slightly uncomfortable on the phone, as though technology had introduced a conversational formality he had not agreed to.
“Where are you?”
“At Megan’s.”
“Okay.”
A pause followed.
Emily could hear a television somewhere behind him.
Her mother said something too muffled to understand.
Thomas cleared his throat.
“Ryan says there was an argument.”
“There wasn’t.”
“Well, he says you left after something happened at breakfast.”
“He threw a dirty dish rag in my face.”
Her father went quiet.
Emily waited.
“He what?”
“He threw it at me and told me to get to work.”
Another pause.
This one felt different.
“And Linda was there?”
“Yes.”
“What did she do?”
“She laughed.”
Emily heard her father inhale slowly.
Her mother’s voice came again, closer now.
“Give me the phone.”
Thomas said, “Your mother wants to talk.”
“I heard.”
“Are you okay?”
Emily looked at Megan.
“I’m safe.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
Something in her father’s voice nearly undid her.
She swallowed.
“I don’t know yet.”
“That’s okay.”
Her mother came on before Emily could answer.
“Emily, honey, what is going on?”
“I just told Dad.”
“Ryan says you packed everything and disappeared.”
“I didn’t disappear.”
“You left without telling your husband where you were going.”
Emily closed her eyes.
“Mom.”
“I’m not saying you shouldn’t be upset.”
“That sounds exactly like what you’re saying.”
“Please don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Turn everything into sides.”
Megan silently mouthed, Incredible.
Emily looked away so she would not laugh.
Her mother continued.
“Marriage is not dating.”
“I’m aware.”
“You don’t leave every time someone behaves badly.”
“He threw a rag at me.”
“And that was rude.”
“Rude?”
“I said it was wrong.”
“You said rude.”
“Emily, stop policing every word.”
The old reflex rose immediately.
Explain better.
Make the other person understand.
Find the exact sequence of sentences that would unlock sympathy.
Emily had spent most of her life believing disagreement was a puzzle that patience could solve.
Tonight she was too tired.
“I’m staying here.”
“For how long?”
“I don’t know.”
“You got married yesterday.”
“I know what day it was.”
Her mother exhaled.
“People are going to ask questions.”
There it was.
Emily opened her eyes.
Megan had heard it too.
Her mouth tightened.
“Let them,” Emily said.
“You say that now.”
“No, Mom.”
Emily’s voice remained quiet.
“I mean let them.”
Neither woman spoke for several seconds.
Then her mother said, “Ryan is coming over.”
Emily stood so quickly the chair legs scraped the floor.
“What?”
“He said he wanted to talk to you.”
“You told him where I am?”
“I assumed he knew.”
“Mom.”
“He is your husband.”
Emily’s stomach dropped.
Megan was already moving toward the window.
“How long ago?”
“I don’t know, ten minutes.”
Emily turned toward Megan.
Megan pulled the curtain aside.
“His truck isn’t here.”
“Mom, listen to me.”
“I really think you both need to calm down.”
“Do not tell him where I am again.”
Her mother went silent.
Emily could hear her father speaking in the background.
Then Patricia said, “I was trying to help.”
“I know.”
“Apparently I can’t do anything right tonight.”
Emily almost apologized.
The word reached the back of her throat.
She stopped it there.
“I’ll call you tomorrow.”
She ended the call.
Megan still stood at the window.
“Lock the deadbolt.”
“It is locked.”
“The chain?”
“I don’t have a chain.”
“Why don’t you have a chain?”
“Because until five minutes ago, I lived a thrilling life in which nobody’s husband was driving here furious.”
Emily grabbed her phone.
“I should go.”
“No.”
“If I’m not here, he leaves you alone.”
May you like
“No.”
“He knows where you work.”
