Chapter 8 #2
Annie stared down the sidewalk. “Will she?”
“She’ll come if refusing looks worse than appearing. Either way, pressure is building.”
Nathan’s mouth tightened. Annie could see the grief in him, the old reflex to worry about Brooke despite everything. She could also see him refusing to follow it.
Tricia turned to Annie. “I know you’ve had enough for one day, but there is one more decision. The Halperts are preparing a narrative. We can stay silent publicly, which is usually best, but privately, we need to close the channels Brooke might use first.”
Annie looked at Nathan. “Your mother.”
His face shifted.
“Brooke has access to her care portal,” Annie said. “She has years of credibility with her. If this becomes ugly, Brooke will go to your mother first or someone connected to her. I won’t have your family hearing that I’m unstable from Brooke.”
Nathan nodded slowly. “You’re right.”
“I want you to tell her. Not me. Not Tricia. You.”
“I will.”
“And I want to be there.”
His eyes searched hers carefully. “Are you sure?”
“No. But I want to hear you choose the truth in front of someone who matters to you.”
He absorbed that. “Okay.”
Nathan’s mother, Erin Grisham, lived in an assisted living residence in Newton that looked more like a boutique hotel than a medical facility.
Annie had always liked Erin, though liking her came with fatigue.
Erin was warm, anxious, and prone to treating Nathan as both her son and proof that her life had not been entirely a waste.
Brooke had been in Erin’s life almost as long as she had been in Nathan’s. That would matter today.
Nathan waited for Annie in the lobby. He looked more nervous there than he had at the police station. That told Annie plenty. Brooke’s public consequences frightened him less than disappointing his mother.
Erin’s apartment was on the fourth floor, overlooking a courtyard with ornamental grasses and a fountain drained for the season. She opened the door in a lavender cardigan, her silver hair swept back, her face lighting when she saw Nathan and then faltering when she saw Annie.
“Oh,” Erin said. “Is everything all right?”
Nathan kissed her cheek. “Can we come in?”
Erin looked between them. “Of course.”
The apartment smelled of vanilla tea and the expensive hand cream Brooke bought Erin every Christmas.
There were framed photographs everywhere: Nathan as a boy, Nathan graduating, Nathan with Erin at company events, Nathan and Annie at their wedding.
And Brooke. Brooke with Erin at a foundation luncheon.
Brooke with Nathan in front of the lake house.
Brooke beside Erin at a hospital fundraiser, one arm around her shoulders like a daughter.
Annie sat on the sofa. Nathan remained standing for a moment, then sat in the chair opposite his mother. Erin lowered herself slowly into the armchair. “Nathan, what’s the matter? You’re hovering.”
“I know. I’m sorry.” He glanced once at Annie.
“There is no easy way to say this, so I’m going to be direct.
Brooke has been interfering in my marriage to Annie for years.
I allowed too much of it. I trusted her when I should have protected my wife.
It has escalated into legal and possibly criminal issues. ”
Erin stared at him. “What on earth are you talking about?”
Nathan told her. Not every detail, but enough.
He did not soften his own role. Annie watched for that most of all.
He said, “I gave Brooke too much access.” He said, “I confided in her instead of my wife.” He said, “I dismissed Annie’s concerns when they were valid.
” He said, “Brooke referred Annie to a therapist who turned out to be Brooke’s cousin, and I did not ask the questions I should have asked.
” He said, “Brooke struck Annie in our foyer.”
Erin’s face had gone gray. “No,” she whispered. “Brooke wouldn’t do that. She’s such a nice girl. I don’t believe it.”
Annie felt the old exhaustion move through her.
Nathan leaned forward. “Mom.”
“She loves you.”
“That is part of the problem.”
Erin looked stricken. “She has been like family.”
“I know.”
“She was there when I was sick. She helped me with appointments. She brought groceries. She?—”
“I know,” Nathan said, and this time his voice broke slightly. “I know what she has been. I’m not asking you to pretend those things didn’t happen. I’m telling you that she also hurt my wife and used her place in our lives to do it.”
Erin looked at Annie then. For the first time since they arrived, she seemed to really see the bruise on Annie’s cheek. Her hand went to her mouth. “Did Brooke do that?”
“Yes,” Annie said.
Erin closed her eyes. A tear slipped down her cheek. For a moment, Annie had no room for tenderness. Erin had loved the version of Brooke she knew. Annie understood that. She was still tired of everyone discovering the truth only after it left a mark on Annie’s face.