Chương 6
“Ethan is coming back.”
Claire’s stomach clenched.
Sophie stood.
“Why?”
“Because I told him if he didn’t, I would have the lodge send the security footage and everything in the safe directly to Claire’s attorney before he had a chance to explain himself.”
Claire looked at Richard.
“You were going to send it anyway.”
“Yes.”
“Then you lied.”
“Yes.”
Sophie stared at her father.
Richard rubbed his eyes.
“I am having a difficult afternoon.”
Claire almost smiled.
He noticed.
“Thank you for your compassion.”
“Limited supply.”
“Fair.”
He looked older than he had that morning.
His white boutonniere had browned at the edges.
“Evelyn says the documents were never intended to be executed without your full understanding.”
Claire said nothing.
Richard continued.
“I do not believe her.”
Something inside Claire loosened.
Not trust.
Not forgiveness.
Only the relief of not having to argue about obvious reality.
Richard leaned against the doorframe.
“I also need to tell you something before Ethan arrives.”
Sophie’s shoulders tightened.
Richard noticed.
“This is about me.”
He looked at Claire.
“Last November Evelyn asked me to approve a seven-hundred-fifty-thousand-dollar bridge transfer from our family investment company.”
Claire waited.
“I signed it.”
“To Ethan?”
“Not directly. To a consulting entity he controls.”
Sophie whispered, “Dad.”
“I was told it was for acquisition work.”
“You signed seven hundred fifty thousand dollars without asking what acquisition?”
Richard’s jaw tightened.
“I asked.”
“And?”
“I accepted the answer.”
Claire looked at him.
There was a difference.
Richard knew it.
“I have spent thirty-six years telling myself that trusting my wife was the same as being responsible,” he said. “It turns out those are not interchangeable.”
Sophie looked away.
Claire asked, “Did you know it involved me?”
“No.”
“Can you prove that?”
Richard held her gaze.
“I don’t know.”
That answer frightened her more than a confident denial would have.
At six, Ethan returned.
He entered through the front lobby in a borrowed raincoat over his tuxedo trousers.
Someone had given him sneakers.
That detail bothered Claire.
A person had seen the groom of a destroyed wedding wandering through town in formal trousers and dress socks and had helped him.
The world did not arrange itself into heroes and villains quickly enough.
Ethan asked to speak to Claire alone.
She refused.
He asked again.
Richard said, “You have lost the privilege of privacy.”
Ethan looked at his father.
“You don’t know what happened.”
“I know you are married.”
Ethan’s face tightened.
“I’m separated.”
“You have a child.”
“I know that.”
Sophie made a disgusted sound.
Ethan turned toward her.
“Don’t.”
“Don’t what?”
“Act like you understand.”
She stared at him.
“You lied to Claire about having a son.”
“You think I’m proud of that?”
Sophie laughed once.
“No. I think you’re sorry we found out.”
Ethan looked at Claire.
For the first time since he returned, she saw something in him that resembled the man she had planned to marry.
He was afraid.
Not of Evelyn.
Not of Richard.
Of Claire.
“I loved you,” he said.
Claire’s throat tightened despite herself.
Loved.
Past tense.
Maybe accidental.
Maybe honest.
“Sit down.”
He sat.
Evelyn remained near the windows.
Richard stood beside the table.
Sophie leaned against the bar.
Claire took a chair across from Ethan.
“Start with Nora.”
Ethan rubbed his palms against his trousers.
“We got married when we were twenty-four.”
“You told me you’d never been married.”
“I know.”
“How long were you together?”
“Five years.”
“Your son is six.”
“Yes.”
“Are you his father?”
Ethan’s face hardened.
“What kind of question is that?”
“The kind I get to ask today.”
He looked down.
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you divorce?”
“We tried.”
Claire waited.
Ethan exhaled.
“Nora and I split up three years ago. We hired lawyers. Then her father got sick. Then we fought about custody. Then money. Then neither of us pushed it.”
“You dated me for two years.”
“Yes.”
“You proposed ten months ago.”
“Yes.”
“At any point did you think being legally married might be relevant?”
He looked at her.
“Every day.”
Claire nodded.
That hurt more than she expected.
Not because he had forgotten.
Because he had remembered.
Ethan leaned forward.
“I was going to fix it.”
“When?”
“Before today.”
“Obviously.”
“Claire.”
“No. Give me a date. You like dates now.”
He looked away.
There was no date.
Claire sat back.
“Okay.”
“It wasn’t like I had a secret family.”
Nora’s Subaru returned to her mind.
The dinosaur sticker.
She stared at him.
“What would you call it?”
“We weren’t together.”
“You had dinner with them eight months ago.”
Ethan blinked.
“How do you know that?”
“Nora showed me a photograph.”
“It was Miles’s birthday.”
“You told me you were in Denver for work.”
“I was in Denver.”
Claire almost laughed.
Richard turned away.
Ethan’s desperation sharpened.
“I’m not saying I handled it well.”
“That is an interesting way to describe creating a second reality.”
“Do you want me to say I’m a monster?”
“No.”
Claire meant it.
She did not want a monster.
Monsters were easier.
She wanted Ethan.
The man who forgot to buy milk.
The man who could not sleep with the closet door open.
The man who sat on the kitchen floor with her when the anniversary of her mother’s death surprised her one February morning and did not say anything for forty minutes.
The man who had lied through all of it.
“Tell me about the money.”
Ethan looked toward Evelyn.
Claire followed his gaze.
“There,” she said.
“What?”
“That. You keep looking at her before you answer.”
Ethan’s jaw tightened.
Evelyn said, “Leave me out of this.”
Richard laughed bitterly.
“Remarkable request.”
Ethan leaned back.
“The money had nothing to do with marrying Claire.”
Claire waited.
He continued.
“Mom gave me a bridge loan.”
“For what?”
“My company was in trouble.”
Sophie frowned.
“What company?”
“My development LLC.”
“You told Dad it was profitable.”
“It was.”
“When?”
“Sophie, stay out of it.”
“No.”
May you like
He looked surprised.
Claire almost felt sorry for Sophie.
