Open House(70)

“Even though she was pregnant with his baby?” Rappaport had asked, and then went on. “I’m not saying Noah would have shown up in your dorm room the next day and killed a perfectly healthy Emma. But in the state Emma was already in down in the gorge, wouldn’t it have been easier to drag her body into the river, alive or not, and escape to the good life in Australia, the life he thought he deserved?”

Haley had watched that clip over and over again. Josie’s mouth twitching, her eyes going wide as saucers as she realized the possibility of what might have happened that night. “It couldn’t be,” she’d murmured, but there was doubt all over her face, and then she started sobbing. Finally she managed to croak, “Are you saying there’s a chance I didn’t do this?”

The police department brought a case against both of them, and they fell apart in court, no longer trying to defend each other, their weaknesses laid bare.

After the weekend of the open house, Haley’s dreams became filled with Josie and Noah in the gorge hurting Emma. But when both of them were sentenced, the dreams stopped altogether. Haley still saw Emma in her mind’s eye, of course, but it was the Emma of happier times—her sister, her childhood best friend, her everything.

The barista passed Haley a receipt. “Enjoy,” he said, pushing the coffee and muffin across the counter. Haley turned around numbly, taking a sharp breath to redirect her thinking.

It was 12:03. Where were Dean and Grace?

Haley clutched her hot coffee and made her way to the rectangular table by the window. She considered the highchairs stacked against the wall, but Grace wasn’t quite sturdy enough to sit upright inside one. Soon. Haley sat and daydreamed about the future when she’d sit inside Mosaic with Dean and Grace, when Grace would be two, and then three, then four, chattering in the quirky way little kids talked.

Haley was still smiling thinking about it when Dean arrived, Grace snug in his arms. Haley stood from her seat, already moving toward them when she realized Sarah had come, too. Haley tried to keep her smile just as big and not let on that she was just a little disappointed to see Sarah. It wasn’t because she disliked Dean’s wife; it was just that when Sarah was here, Grace usually just wanted to be held by her mother, of course.

“Hi,” Haley said, unable to peel her eyes from Grace. “How are you guys? Grace! You’re getting so big!”

Dean glanced at Grace and beamed. “Hi, Haley,” Sarah said, unwinding a cashmere scarf. Sarah had grown up in the Midwest, and she was one of those women who looked beautiful in the winter, with pale skin and shiny red locks that looked lovely even when she tore off her knit hat. She was kind and gracious, and Haley had liked her from the moment Dean introduced them a few years ago.

“How are you is the better question,” Sarah asked. “We saw the article about the case you worked on in Bronxville. Unbelievable, Haley.”

Haley felt her cheeks get hot. She loved working as a forensic pathologist, but she didn’t always love talking about it. Even when she did her job right, there was still so much that had been lost that it was hard to celebrate anything. But she knew exactly what she was giving the victims’ families by solving cases, and that was enough, the thing that kept her going, the thing that filled her with purpose.

“You don’t need to tell us about it,” Dean said quickly, still always very aware of how she felt. “We just want you to know we’re proud of you,” he said. Haley considered his deep brown eyes, wishing, as she sometimes did, things hadn’t ended the way they had, but also knowing there had been no other way, not when he’d lied about Emma.

“Thank you,” Haley said, and she meant it. When Grace squealed, Haley felt grateful for the distraction. “Hi, Grace,” she cooed. She had never known she had a voice that cooed until she met Grace that first week Dean and Sarah brought her home from the hospital.

Sarah squeezed Dean’s arm. “Let’s sit,” she said, “I’m starving. Let me run up and get some food; be right back?”

Haley smiled and so did Sarah, and then Sarah turned and went to the counter. When Dean said, “Do you want to hold her?” Haley reached out her arms.

“Can I hold you, sweetheart?” she asked Grace. Grace looked up at Haley with her blinking brown eyes, seeming happy to be transferred into her arms. “She’s perfect,” Haley breathed.

“She is,” Dean said. He took off his coat and set it on the back of his chair. “How are you?” he asked, his eyes holding hers.

“I’m good,” Haley said, and when he raised his eyebrows, she laughed. “Seriously, Dean,” she said. “I’m really good.”

“You like the new apartment?” Dean asked. He’d offered to go down to New York City to help her move in, but Haley hadn’t wanted to take him away from his family on the weekend when he worked such long hours during the week.

“I do,” Haley said. “It’s tiny, but I love it down there. It’s so quiet.” She’d lived in New York City since graduating from medical school, and the West Village was the most peaceful neighborhood she’d found yet. She kissed Grace’s forehead, debating on whether she should tell Dean what she was about to. “I’m seeing someone,” she finally said.

“You are?” Dean asked, eyebrows up again.

“I am,” Haley said, smiling. “Henry. He’s nice. I think you’ll like him.”