Chapter 8 #2
The realization carried a different pain from the hotel room. Hudson had not merely lied about his whereabouts. He had directed Abby’s kindness toward maintaining the conditions that made his affair invisible.
“I helped them,” she whispered. “Every time she called, I helped them.”
“You trusted people you loved.” Evan’s voice sharpened for the first time. “They used that trust. You didn’t help them betray you.”
Abby looked at him. His anger had returned, though none of it was aimed at her.
“You sound very certain,” she said as tears gathered again. She wished she could borrow some of his certainty for herself.
“I need to be.” Evan swallowed before continuing. “If I start blaming myself for every night I worked late, I’ll never stop. I asked her whether she wanted me home. I offered to scale the company back. I offered to get a different job. She told me she believed in what I was building.”
“She told me the opposite.” Abby remembered Makayla crying over untouched desserts and missed dinners while Abby searched for ways to comfort her. “She said she begged you to choose her.”
Evan’s face went still. “She never asked me to choose. I kept offering, but she always wanted me to go for the gold ring.”
Abby watched the road ahead and understood that this would not be the last lie they uncovered. Eighteen months contained too many ordinary days, each capable of hiding another betrayal.
They fell silent for the remainder of the drive. When Evan turned onto Sadie’s street, the porch light was already on, casting a pale rectangle across the wet front walk.
Sadie opened the door before the car stopped completely. She wore flannel pajama pants beneath a winter coat, and her hair had been pulled into a hurried knot at the back of her head.
Abby’s composure broke at the sight of her. She fumbled with the seat belt until Evan reached across the console, then stopped before touching it.
“May I?” he asked as he waited with his hand near the buckle.
Abby nodded. Evan released it and drew back at once.
Sadie was halfway down the walk by the time Abby opened the door. She took one look at Abby’s wet clothes and swollen face before pulling her into an embrace.
“What happened?” Sadie asked as she held the back of Abby’s head. “Where is Hudson?”
Abby opened her mouth, but the words lodged behind the ache in her throat. She shook her head against Sadie’s shoulder and tightened both arms around her.
Evan climbed out on the driver’s side. He remained beside the car, giving Abby room to decide whether she wanted him involved.
Sadie looked over Abby’s shoulder and seemed to register his soaked clothes, his injured hand, and the absence of Makayla. Her expression changed with each detail.
“Evan,” she said, keeping one arm around Abby. “Tell me what happened.”
He looked at Abby first. She managed a nod.
“Hudson and Makayla have been having an affair,” Evan said as his voice roughened around the final word. “I found messages tonight. Abby and I followed them. We saw them together at a hotel.”
Sadie did not move. Her arm tightened around Abby until the pressure almost hurt, and Abby welcomed the physical certainty of it.
“How long?” Sadie asked after several seconds.
“At least eighteen months.” Evan glanced toward Abby before adding, “There may be more.”
Sadie closed her eyes. When she opened them, rage had sharpened every line of her face.
“I’m going to kill him.” Her voice was quiet enough to be more frightening than a shout. “I am going to take his expensive car apart with a tire iron, and then I’m going to?—”
“Sadie.” Abby clutched the front of her coat. “Please don’t make me calm you down.”
The anger disappeared from Sadie’s face as quickly as it had arrived. “You don’t have to take care of me,” she said, drawing Abby closer. “Come inside.”
Abby took one step toward the house, then looked back at Evan. He had opened the passenger door and was retrieving the iPad and Abby’s phone.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
“The office.” He placed both devices in her hands, careful not to brush his injured knuckles against her. “There’s a couch in the conference room. I’m used to sleeping on it.”
“You can stay here,” Sadie said before Abby could respond. Suspicion remained in her expression, but concern had begun to compete with it. “The guest room is made up.”
Evan shook his head. “Thank you, but Abby needs her sister. I’ll be all right at the office.”
“And who will you have?” Abby stepped toward him.
He smiled sadly. “Don’t worry about me. Just let Sadie take care of you. “He reached into the car for the engagement ring. Rainwater still clung to the diamond when he held it out to Sadie rather than Abby.
“She asked me to pick this up,” he explained. “It fell near the car.”
Sadie took the ring and closed her fingers around it. “Your hand needs ice.”
“I’ll take care of it.” Evan looked at Abby. “Do you want me to let you know when I get there?”
“Yes.” The answer came too quickly, but she did not take it back. “Please.”
He nodded and walked around the front of the car. Before he opened the driver’s door, Abby called his name.
Evan turned beneath the rain. His face was pale with exhaustion, and the control he had maintained since arriving at her apartment looked close to failing.
“You can call me too,” Abby said as she stepped away from Sadie. “If you need someone to talk to. If you need someone who understands.”
His expression shifted, revealing the grief he had managed to contain since the gas station. “All right.”
Abby knew he probably would not call. Evan had spent years believing that loving someone meant carrying the heaviest parts alone, and one ruined night would not change the habit.
“I mean it,” she said as she held his gaze. “You don’t have to sit in that office and pretend this only happened to me.”
Evan looked down for a moment, then met her eyes again. “Neither do you.”
He got into the car and waited until Sadie had guided Abby onto the porch before he drove away. Abby watched his taillights disappear at the end of the street, then followed her sister inside.
Sadie’s kitchen smelled faintly of coffee and the lavender she used in decoration. A saucepan sat on the stove beside an unopened can of soup, a box of tea, and bag of chocolates; evidence that Sadie had begun preparing three different comforts before deciding which one Abby might accept.
“Sit down.” Sadie removed Abby’s coat and draped it over the back of a chair. “I’m going to get you dry clothes, and then you can tell me as much or as little as you want.”