Little Secrets(95)
He doesn’t answer.
“J.R.” She says it louder to let him know she expects an answer, but not so loud he might construe it as raising her voice. “Seriously. How do you know that?”
He looks up and sighs. “Remember I once told you about my college girlfriend? How we’re still friends?”
“Yeah,” she says, irritated at his abrupt change of subject. “You said she dumped you for—” She stops, her eyes widening. “That was Marin?”
“Christ, catch up.” He’s back in his phone again.
If it were anyone else, Kenzie would be across the room, yanking the goddamned phone out of his hand so he would pay attention to the conversation.
“How could you not tell me? Did you already know who he was when I told you about him? Did you…” She pauses. “Did you set this up?”
“When you said his name was Derek, and that he had a metallic black Maserati, I knew. Not too many rich douchebags in Seattle named Derek with a black Maserati. You’d already been with him for a month at that point, so how could I have set it up?” J.R. shakes his head in disgust. “Use your head, M.K.”
“But you still lied to me,” she says. She can’t believe what she’s hearing. She’s been talking about Derek for months and months, and not one word from J.R. that her married boyfriend is the husband of the ex-girlfriend who broke his heart. Even Lorna’s said that she wishes her son had married his college sweetheart.
It explains why J.R. always seemed so interested in her relationship with Derek. It also explains why he backed away. He wanted her to end up with Derek.
So that he could have Marin.
“I didn’t lie,” J.R. says. “I withheld. And now you know.”
“So this isn’t really about the money for you, is it?” Kenzie feels a tingle go through her. “This is personal. What is this, some kind of sick game you’re playing to try to break them up? To, what, punish her for daring to leave you for the guy she married and had a kid with?” Another thought occurs to her, and the next words are out of her mouth before she can stop herself. “Holy shit, J.R., did you take their kid?”
He’s out of the bed so fast, she has no time to react. He shoves her up against the wall, causing the back of her head to smack solidly against it. His hand is back on her jaw, squeezing twice as hard as he did before, and his dark eyes bore into hers. She can’t move. She can’t look away. All she can do is close her eyes, feeling his hot breath on her bruised cheek.
“If you ever say anything about the kid again,” he says, “I will fucking kill you. Do you understand me, McKenzie?”
He never calls her by her first name.
Kenzie would nod if she could move her head, but all she can do is whimper, to let him know she understands.
Chapter 30
Marin has no idea how to start this conversation.
She can’t decide where to begin. There’s so much they haven’t said to each other in the past four hundred ninety-four days that it doesn’t feel right to just leap in. But Derek ends up speaking first.
“Was there someone here?” He places his laptop bag down on the kitchen island and looks around. “I saw a car parked by the curb.”
She’d asked Castro to leave before Derek came in, and the PI exited the house through the front door, the same way she’d entered. Derek came in through the mudroom. They did not meet.
“Yes, there was.”
He waits. She returns his gaze almost defiantly, daring him to ask her to tell him more. Then she notices the bags under his eyes, the hollowness of his cheeks, the pallor of his skin. Has he been like this for a while? Or just today?
“Are you going to tell me who it was?” he asks.
“It was the private investigator I hired last year to find our son.”
He jolts.
“The same one,” Marin continues calmly, “who told me about your affair with McKenzie Li. Six months, Derek. Wow.”
He opens his mouth to speak, then shuts it again. He seems to not know what to say, and she can only imagine the flurry of emotions competing for dominance inside his head as he tries to decide what to tell her. Does he deny it, or confirm that it’s true? If he acknowledges that it’s true, does he tell her the whole story, or only part of it? If he denies it, how does he explain it away?
It’s interesting to watch a liar when you know they’re lying. The tiny facial twitches, the spotty eye contact, the little vibrations of various body parts. Things you might not notice if you didn’t know they were lying. Things you would never think to look for if you trust them, because you’re assuming everything they tell you is true. Someone who loves you isn’t supposed to lie to you.
Marin and Derek are standing on opposite sides of the large granite island, five feet away from each other. It might as well be five miles. A full minute passes, and he still doesn’t speak. Absurdly, another line from The Princess Bride pops into Marin’s brain. The Man in Black is facing off with Vizzini in order to decide who gets Princess Buttercup: “All right. Where is the poison? The battle of wits has begun.”
Finally, Derek whispers, “I’m sorry.” His voice is hoarse, and he hangs his head, placing both hands on the island for support. “She didn’t mean anything to me … I don’t love her.”