Lily whispered, "He does love you." Ava's head turned slowly toward her. Lily immediately regretted speaking. "Do not tell me what my husband feels," Ava said. "I'm sorry."
"You don't get to interpret him for me. You don't get to know him in ways I don't." "I wasn't trying to—" "That's exactly what you were doing." Lily bowed her head. Ava looked at the clock on the wall.
It was nearly nine. The dinner had begun a little after seven, and she could not understand how less than two hours had contained enough information to erase years. She thought of work tomorrow. An absurd thought, but it came anyway. She had a nine-thirty meeting with a hotel manager.
There were linen samples in the trunk of her car. Her calendar still believed she had a normal life. "I'm not going to work tomorrow," she said aloud. Ryan blinked. "Okay."
"I wasn't asking permission." "I know." She exhaled sharply. "Stop." He looked helpless.
Ava went to the sideboard and picked up her phone. There were two missed notifications from a group chat, an email from work, and a weather alert about heavy rain. Nothing from Diane. She opened her mother's text from earlier and read it again. Start without me.
I may not make it tonight. No explanation. Ava typed, Are you okay? Then deleted it. She typed, We need to talk.
Deleted that too. Finally she locked the phone and set it down. She was not ready to tell another person. Behind her, Lily said, "I can leave." Ava turned.
"Can you drive?" Lily seemed surprised by the question. "Yes." "You've been crying for an hour." "I'll sit in my car first."
That practical concern escaped Ava before anger could stop it. She hated herself for still caring whether Lily reached home safely, and she hated Lily for making even basic decency feel like betrayal of her own pain. "Don't go yet," Ava said. Lily looked startled. "I have more questions."
The hope that had briefly appeared on Lily's face disappeared. Ava returned to the table. "Did you ever come here specifically to see him when you knew I wasn't home?" Lily hesitated. Ava nodded.
"How many times?" "Twice." Ryan looked at her. "I thought once." Lily's face changed.
Ava almost laughed at the absurdity. "Fantastic. Now you two can discover each other's lies too." Ryan frowned. "When was the second time?"
Lily ignored him. Ava said, "Answer." "One afternoon in June. Ryan wasn't here." Ava stared.
"Then why did you come?" Lily's cheeks flushed. "I didn't know he wasn't here." Ryan looked genuinely surprised. Ava felt a new wave of nausea.