Do you understand me?” Andre nodded. “No,” Denise said. “Say it.”
“I understand.” “And tomorrow you call your chaplain, your counselor, whoever your command gives you. You get help before you start trying to charm either woman into a conversation.” Andre looked at her.
“You think I’m charming them?” “I think you have spent five years believing your explanations are more important than other people’s reality.” There was nothing to say to that. At Nia’s house, dawn came without sleep.
Denise returned around one in the morning after Andre texted that he was at her house. She did not tell Nia what they discussed, only confirmed that he would not come over. By six, Nia was at the kitchen table with coffee she had reheated twice. Amara slept late, exhausted by travel and emotion.
Nia opened a blank document on her laptop and started building a timeline. The act felt clinical because she needed it to. Training in Texas. Five years ago.
Caroline’s pregnancy. Clarksville payments. Christmas duty claims. Temporary lodging.
Weekend exercises. She searched old messages and calendar entries. The past began arranging itself into columns. What she knew.
What Andre said. What had probably been happening. Every discovery created pain, but pain with structure was easier to survive than chaos. At 8:17, a Facebook message appeared from Caroline.
Nia stared at the name for almost a minute before opening it. I am sorry to contact you. I do not know what he told you about me. I did not know he was married.
I think we need to compare what we know, but only if you want to. I will not contact you again if you do not. Nia read it four times. Her first emotion was anger, irrational and immediate.
Caroline had slept beside her husband. Caroline had built a home with him. Caroline’s son had called him Dad. Nia wanted someone else to be guilty enough that the pain could become simple.
Then she remembered Caroline’s face at the airport. Nobody with that face had walked in carrying a victory. Nia typed: Did he tell you I was his aunt? The response came less than a minute later.