Chapter 12
Sarah
It felt intrusive being in the cabin on my own, especially with how little I knew about Gabriel, but it also gave me a chance to… wander.
Okay, I was snooping and was only mostly ashamed about it.
Fai and Gabriel had gone on a hike, and if I had the timing right, I had about half the day to myself. I tried to keep busy, but after a shower, breakfast, and a failed attempt at reading, my curiosity about the cabin became impossible to ignore.
I wasn’t snooping through Gabriel’s nightstand or anything like that. I hadn’t even gone upstairs to where his room was. My exploring had started in the kitchen, and now I found myself in the living room, the phone wedged between my ear and shoulder as I listened to it ring.
I needed to talk to someone about the current sleeping arrangements, the fake boyfriend I had decided to invent, and everything else that had happened over the last twenty-four hours.
While Fai processed things internally, I did the opposite, talking anyone’s ear off with my thoughts and feelings.
Luckily, I had found the perfect person for that—a mostly quiet friend who didn’t mind listening.
“What?” Will asked rather aggressively into the phone when he finally picked up.
“You need to work on your greetings,” I teased. “What if I was someone important? Wouldn’t you feel guilty answering like that? Whatever happened to hello?”
I could practically hear the roll of his eyes. “First… you are important, and second, no, I would not feel guilty answering the phone like that. Especially when someone called me a dozen times in a row.”
This time I rolled my eyes as I ran my fingers over the spines of the many books on the shelf. “It was only four times, and this is important.” I picked up one of the many religious texts Gabriel had. “Who is it that reads The Book of Mormon again?”
“The Mormons. It’s right there in the title,” he answered—rather grumpily I might add—as if I were wasting his time. “What’s so important you called me four times in a row while I’m at work?”
I wasn't going to mention the three calls I had left at his house.
“Things are escalating here and I need a sounding board. That’s where you come in, best friend.” I thumbed through the thin pages and, oddly enough, found cash tucked between them.
“I would like to return my title as your best friend,” he mumbled.
I chose to ignore his comment and placed the book back on the shelf. I had run out of exciting things to snoop through in the main rooms. I craned my neck, looking down the hall where the office stood.
“Will, are you going to let me vent to you or not?” I asked, pulling the phone cord taut as I moved. The thing was insanely long, not that I was complaining. “I could call your wife, but this has to do with Fai, so I need someone unbiased.”
I heard him sigh, that sigh he only expressed when I had worn him down enough to get my way. “I have less than an hour before my next class and I need to grade papers. If I can do that while we talk, go ahead.”
“Perfect.” I tested the handle to the office, fist-bumping the air when it was unlocked. I opened the door silently, though there was no one in the house to hear me. “First, I have a lie you need to back up whenever you talk to Fai next. No questions asked.”
“I’ll back you up, but I do have questions,” he agreed, sounding more distant. I could already picture it—his phone on speaker, red pen in hand, rolling his eyes at every other sentence I threw at him. It was comforting thinking of him in his natural habitat.
“Fine,” I acquiesced, peering around the room.
It matched the rest of the cabin, with log walls and well-loved, thoughtfully chosen furniture.
A large desk stood in the center of the room, with a wall of shelves behind it, the lower half made up of cabinets.
The curtains were drawn on the windows, and I opened them up immediately, letting the light flood in.
“If Fai asks, I am in fact dating someone new.”
It was quiet over the phone, long enough that I wondered if I had wandered too far from the phone and unplugged the long cord that was now winding through the house. “Will?”
“Why in the world did you make up a fake boyfriend? Are you twelve?”
“My God, take a breath. No need for an outburst.” There were papers spread across the desk.
Some looked to be bills, other tax papers.
“Look, things got complicated and I panicked. I need your support, not your criticism, William.” I collapsed into the desk chair, the supple leather cool under my legs.
He laughed. “Look at you full-naming me. Remember when you refused to call anyone by anything but their full first name?”
“I do. It was a lovely time. But I’ve grown, as we all should. As you have. Remember when you didn’t laugh?” I paused for effect. “See, people can change.”
He laughed again. “Okay, okay… tell me about the complications that resulted in you making up a boyfriend.”
I exhaled gratefully. “So Gabriel, that’s Fai’s brother, he didn’t know we were divorced. Not only did we have to have that awkward conversation with him, he proceeded to explain there is one room… and one bed for us to share.”
“I’m trying really hard not to laugh right now, but I really want to,” he muttered.
I smiled. “I appreciate your restraint. Back on topic… when it actually came time to share a bed, I panicked and made up a stupid lie, and it’s too late to backtrack. So I need you to have my back.”
He snickered. “You know I always do. Can you clarify why you came up with such a stupid lie?”
I groaned, my head falling back into the chair.
“It was a stupid attempt to protect myself from being hurt again. If he thinks I’m taken, he won’t even consider crossing certain boundaries.
Boundaries I would gladly let him cross if given the chance.
” I took a breath and did my best to keep any emotion from overcoming me.
“I want to be here for him, but I still need to keep my heart safe.”
“Sarah,” Will sighed, “do you need to come home? I can get a car, or even a plane to you by the end of the day.”
I chuckled. I couldn’t help it. The man had no concept of money. “Use your billions for other purposes. I’m okay here, really. It’s where I want to be. I just needed to vent for a minute.”
“Well, that’s what reluctant best friends are for.”
I laughed again, sitting back up in the chair, grateful I had Will to vent to.
While I had been going to my own therapist during the course of my separation and divorce, I also needed friends like him to vent to.
People who would listen without judgment or bias when I needed to get anything off my chest. Besides Fai and myself…
and my therapist… and maybe Fai’s… Will was the only person who knew all the details of the divorce.
He knew of the ups and downs during our years-long separation, and even the details of that final argument that put the final nail in the coffin.
The nail that had me calling up a lawyer the next day to finally end the mirage that our marriage was.
People often wondered why I stayed, why I kept fighting for our marriage long after it began to fall apart. We were separated for two years before I filed for divorce. In those two years, I felt like a soldier fighting the battle of my life. The battle that would decide the fate of the war.
I stayed for the simplest of reasons. We loved each other. Despite all the ups and downs, the pain and heartache, Fai and I loved each other. More than we loved ourselves. I knew I would fight as long as that love persisted.
But only my love did…
“Sarah?” Will’s voice snapped me back to reality.
“Sorry,” I mumbled. “Lost in my own world.”
“What are you doing anyways?” he asked, sounding amused. “I thought you were up in the mountains away from any internet… or cell service.”
“Ha ha,” I mocked. “You knew I could call. Fai let you know we made it. You just don’t like this phone call. And I’m… just looking around the cabin. Getting the lay of the land.”
Will barked a laugh. “You’re snooping, aren’t you?”
“Shut up,” I mumbled.
“Well… did you at least find anything interesting? I’m rather curious about this Gabriel fella.”
“No,” I complained. “Unless you count some bills in the Mormon book.”
“Oh come on, there’s gotta be something more exciting.” He was invested now. I could hear it in his voice, and judging by the shift in tone, his papers had been completely abandoned.
I shook my head and quickly realized he couldn’t see it.
I took the phone from the crook of my shoulder, holding it tightly as I glanced over the papers.
“Really, there’s nothing. Even in his office it’s just bills and statements and…
” I moved one of the top papers, my voice trailing off when I located what seemed to be a document about me.
“I have a feeling you finally found something interesting,” Will mused.
Interesting was one word for it. I knew Gabriel had a PI look into Fai and, by extension, me. Looking at the results of the PI felt invasive. It was only a single sheet of paper, but it was filled with details about myself.
Name: Sarah Martin
Birthplace: White Plains, New York
Age: 34
Ethnicity: African American
I rifled through the papers, finding Fai’s under a few statements and what seemed to be shopping lists.
Name: Faizal (Fai) Acharya
Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois
Age: 38
Ethnicity: Columbian? Indian.
“It’s what I assume are the private investigator reports,” I explained, trying to find more on the desk.
At the very bottom of the stack, almost like they were hidden, were half a dozen documents.
They ranged from Fai’s background to mine, copies of documents such as our marriage certificate and diplomas.
“It’s weird seeing my life on a stranger’s desk. ”
"The PI gathered more than basic contact information?" Will asked. “It must have cost a pretty penny if this Gabriel wanted more.”