The Husband Hour(74)
And in the end, Stephanie didn’t show up at the wedding. Looking at her now, after everything that happened, Lauren thought it all seemed so silly. If nothing else, she wanted to fix their relationship.
Stephanie drove up to the front of Nora’s Café. Lauren opened the door, then turned around and said, “I’m glad you’re here this summer. And not just for the ride.”
Stephanie smiled.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
After sending the footage to Craig, Matt couldn’t sit still. He considered a walk to the beach but found himself wanting to see Lauren instead. Being around her gave him the sense that he was making progress even if he wasn’t technically working. At least, that’s what he made of the impulse.
“Hey! Matt.”
Matt, just outside of Nora’s, looked around. He spotted Stephanie in a parked car.
“What are you doing? Staking out the joint?” he said.
“For your information, I just dropped off my sister. What are you doing here?”
Stephanie’s hostility at the party the other night had surprised him, but he knew it shouldn’t have. He’d seen it before: an interviewee said something he or she regretted, then felt “tricked” by the filmmaker. Matt had weathered more than one strongly worded legal letter. The thing was, Stephanie hadn’t even made the incriminating statement on camera. What was he supposed to do with her drunken ramblings at a bar? Damned if he knew.
“Having breakfast,” he said.
“Why are you bothering her?”
“I think that’s your own guilt talking,” he said.
“You’re the one who should feel guilty, using my sister for your stupid movie.”
“If she knew the truth, I doubt Lauren would agree that I am the one who should feel bad.”
Stephanie’s lower lip trembled.
“If you tell her, I’ll deny it.”
Matt barely heard her. His mind kept going over and over the same question: Why had Rory betrayed Lauren?
Matt had footage of all the coaches and teammates and military guys extolling his virtues. He had Lauren, acknowledging his injuries and the difficulties in their marriage toward the end. But there was a missing piece along the way, a breach between the man and the myth.
He needed Stephanie back on camera.
“I don’t want to tell her, Stephanie. I have no interest in upsetting your sister or causing problems between the two of you. But if you’re worried about her finding out—and someday she might, because the truth has a way of coming to the surface—then I suggest you take this opportunity to own it.”
“How?”
“I’m offering you the chance to tell your side of the story. On the record.” He waited, watching her mull it over. “I think you know I’m not the enemy here. And I don’t think you’re the bad guy either, Stephanie.”
He could see her grappling with the idea of confessing. He’d witnessed it many times over the course of his career. People needed to talk. The need for absolution was a strong and universal impulse.
When Stephanie looked back at him, she had tears in her eyes.
“The guilt is killing me,” she said. “And I have no idea what to do about it.”
The house was empty when Lauren returned after work. Her mother’s car was gone from the driveway. Lately, her mother had been spending a lot of time baking, but the kitchen showed no sign of activity even from earlier in the day. The deck was empty, the pool quiet. Would she have a rare night of the house all to herself? For once, she actually didn’t want to be alone.
She dialed her mother’s cell.
“How’s it going there, sweetheart?” Beth said.
“Fine—I just got home from work. Are you here for dinner tonight?”
“Didn’t your sister tell you? I went to Philly with Ethan for an overnight trip. I’ll be back tomorrow.”
When she hung up, she immediately tried Stephanie’s phone, but it went straight to voice mail.
She walked upstairs, paced around her bedroom, then called Matt. Again, voice mail.
“Matt, it’s Lauren,” she said. “I’ve been thinking a lot about what I said last night, and I just don’t want your portrayal of Rory to be so mired in the negative. I don’t believe that’s who he was. The end doesn’t define the beginning. You know what I mean? Call me when you can.”
The house was completely silent.
Lauren opened her closet.
The boxes from the attic were still taking up the entire bottom. She dragged them out, the one she’d already opened with her high-school keepsakes and another marked 2010–2011. She remembered packing this one, basically dumping an entire dresser drawer into it: cards from her wedding, Ethan’s blue birth announcement (Stephanie Adelman is proud to announce the birth of her son, Ethan Jake Adelman, 7 lbs., 8 oz., April 6, 2011), her wedding album (which she would not open under any circumstances), a few editions of the Los Angeles Times that mentioned Rory in the sports section, a scented candle from their honeymoon hotel in Negril, two shot glasses from Jamaica, and there, at the very bottom, a hotel-room key card that read OJAI VALLEY INN AND SPA.
She reached for it, clutched the small piece of plastic to her chest. I held this on one of the happiest days of my life, she thought.