Chương 6
Daniel unlocked the townhouse and stepped aside to let her enter first.
The ordinary darkness of the hallway felt almost indecent after the chandeliers and cameras and three hundred people pretending not to stare.
Meredith kicked off one shoe.
The second caught against the swollen edge of her heel.
She bent to pull it free and nearly lost her balance.
Daniel caught her elbow.
“I have it.”
“I can remove a shoe.”
“I know.”
“Then stop hovering.”
He released her immediately.
Meredith hated herself for snapping at him.
She hated that she was too tired to apologize.
Daniel picked up her shoes instead and carried them toward the kitchen.
“Where are you going?”
“To put these somewhere you won’t trip over them.”
“I’m not eighty.”
“You almost fell.”
“Because my dress is full of Cabernet.”
“That seems relevant.”
She followed him into the kitchen and found the same coffee mug he had abandoned that morning still beside the sink.
The dishwasher door was slightly open.
A clean wineglass sat upside down on the counter because apparently the machine had once again refused to dry it properly.
Meredith stared at the glass.
Then she laughed.
Daniel turned.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
She opened the refrigerator.
“You want something?”
“Do you?”
“I asked first.”
“No.”
“Then neither do I.”
“That is not how food works.”
Meredith closed the refrigerator harder than necessary.
Daniel rested both hands against the island.
He looked at her for several seconds.
“Do you want me to say something comforting or stay quiet?”
“Neither.”
“Excellent.”
He pulled out a stool and sat.
“I’m very good at neither.”
Meredith peeled his jacket from her shoulders.
The satin lining had acquired a pink stain where it had rested against the gown.
“Your jacket is ruined.”
“I have another one.”
“Of course you do.”
“That sounded accusatory.”
“It was.”
Daniel accepted this with a small nod.
Meredith carried the jacket toward the laundry room and stopped halfway there.
“What do you even do with wine on silk?”
“Call someone who knows.”
“I know.”
She stood in the middle of the kitchen holding the jacket.
“That’s what I hate.”
Daniel’s expression changed.
Meredith looked down.
“I know someone for everything now.”
He waited.
“I have a number for a tailor, a driver, a lawyer, someone who can get a restaurant reservation when there aren’t any, someone who will come here at midnight and tell me how to save a dress.”
She squeezed the jacket.
“And somehow I still stood there while my mother called me pathetic.”
Daniel got up.
Meredith shook her head before he reached her.
“Don’t fix it.”
“I wasn’t going to.”
“You were walking toward me.”
“That’s not the same thing.”
“With you, it usually is.”
His mouth tightened.
The words had landed harder than she intended.
She set the jacket on the back of a chair.
“I’m sorry.”
Daniel looked toward the dark windows above the sink.
“Do you think that’s why you didn’t tell them about me?”
Meredith crossed her arms.
“We’ve had this conversation.”
“No.”
“We absolutely have.”
“We’ve argued about whether you should tell them.”
He looked back at her.
“We haven’t talked much about why being married to me feels like information they could use against you.”
“It doesn’t.”
“Meredith.”
“Don’t.”
He rubbed one hand over his face.
The movement made him look more exhausted than angry.
“I got off a plane, walked into a ballroom, and watched your father talk to you like you were something he found on his shoe.”
“I know.”
“Your mother helped arrange that.”
“I know.”
“Your sister paid for it.”
“I know.”
“And I am trying very hard not to turn this into something I can solve with attorneys and money because you asked me not to.”
“I didn’t ask.”
“You touched my wrist every time I was about to speak.”
Meredith looked away.
Daniel gave a humorless laugh.
“You didn’t need Morse code.”
For a moment neither of them spoke.
A car passed outside, tires whispering against the street.
Someone farther down the block dragged a trash bin over brick pavement.
Meredith went to the sink and turned on the faucet.
She washed her hands even though they were already clean.
Pink water spiraled briefly around the drain.
“I didn’t tell them because I wanted one thing that wasn’t theirs to judge.”
Daniel leaned against the island.
“That I understand.”
“No, you don’t.”
“Probably not.”
“They judge everything.”
She shut off the water.
“My clothes, my apartment, my job, whether I talk too much, whether I’m too quiet, who I date, why I’m not dating, what I earn, what I don’t spend.”
Her wet hands trembled slightly.
“When I met you, I kept thinking that if they knew, suddenly I’d become interesting enough for them.”
Daniel said nothing.
“And I couldn’t stand that.”
Her voice thinned.
“I couldn’t stand the idea that they might finally respect me because of your bank account.”
Daniel’s face softened.
“That makes sense.”
“It’s also ugly.”
“Those aren’t mutually exclusive.”
Meredith looked at him.
He walked closer but stopped several feet away.
“You also made decisions for me.”
There it was.
She had known it was coming.
“I know.”
“You decided I wouldn’t mind being hidden.”
“I didn’t hide you.”
“At Thanksgiving, you told your mother you had a work deadline and then ate turkey with me in New York.”
“I was protecting us.”
“From what?”
“Them.”
“That answer gets less convincing every year.”
Meredith flinched.
Daniel saw it and immediately looked annoyed with himself.
“I’m not trying to pile on.”
“You’re doing a great job accidentally.”
“I know.”
She walked toward the stairs.
“Meredith.”
“I need to get out of this dress.”
He let her go.
Upstairs, she stood in front of the bedroom mirror and looked at the damage properly for the first time.
The stain covered most of the bodice and one side of the skirt.
May you like
Her makeup had survived better than she had.
A dark streak of mascara sat beneath one eye.
