The Husband Hour(88)

“Hey.”

He pulled out the seat across from her and sat down. If this were a movie, or if he were a different person, he would have maybe used a cheesy line like “Is this seat taken?” But it was Rory, and Rory just focused his intense eyes on her. He was tan. He looked beautiful.

Before she could say anything, his big hands enveloped her small ones.

“I’ve missed you.”

She started to speak, but nothing came out. What was there to say? He’d come back for her.

A month later, they were looking for houses together in Los Angeles.

Lauren hit the Play arrow on Stephanie’s interview, then skipped back a few minutes.

“Was Rory faithful to your sister?”

Suddenly, Lauren felt sick. The summer came back to her in sharp cuts.

Stephanie had pulled away from her so completely.

And Rory had committed to her so absolutely.

No.

Hands shaking, Lauren removed the disc and inserted the first interview. She didn’t realize what she was looking for, didn’t understand that her subconscious was already piecing together what her conscious mind couldn’t handle.

The thumbnail files lined up, still images of Stephanie but also of Ethan. She clicked on Ethan on the beach, running with a soccer ball. He dropped it to the sand and dribbled it with considerable deftness before kicking it to the edge of the water.

“Score!” he said, raising his arms in victory and then pulling his right elbow sharply in toward his rib cage, a gesture so familiar, so precise, she gasped.

The video kept going, but she was watching a different scene, a scene in her mind’s eye. An argument, long ago, interrupted by a phone call.

It was two months into her life in LA with Rory. The stress of the new season was already bearing down on them, and she’d just found a bottle of Ambien in his nightstand.



“Since when are you taking Ambien?” she asked Rory.

“Since when do you go snooping through my drawers?”

“I wasn’t snooping. I was trying to find a phone charger. Why didn’t you tell me about this?”

“Probably because I knew you’d overreact.”

His phone rang. He checked the incoming number. “It’s your mother. Why is she calling my phone?”

“Probably because mine is dead—because I can’t find my charger!”

He tossed her the phone.

“Mom, this isn’t a good time.”

“You don’t have time for family news?” her mother said. Lauren sighed. Okay, she’d take the bait.

“What’s the news?”

“Your sister is pregnant.”

“Pregnant? Who’s the father?”

“Well, Lauren, that’s not something she’s talking about. I get the feeling it was a one-night stand. But let’s focus on the positive. You’re going to be an aunt!”

Only after Lauren hung up did she think to wonder why Stephanie hadn’t called to tell her herself.



Of course she hadn’t told her.

Because she was carrying Rory’s baby.

Lauren screamed, then pulled off her wedding band and threw it against the wall. She ejected the disc, tossed it onto the floor, and—driven by a rage so pure it showed there was, in fact, an emotion stronger than grief—she grabbed the picture frame holding the image of herself with Stephanie and used it to pound the plastic disc into pieces.



Beth waded into the pool up to her waist, then found a nice sunny spot and leaned against the wall. She adjusted her wide-brimmed hat, knowing it was a losing battle because of the reflection off the water. Don’t worry about your skin, she told herself, enjoy the moment. She exhaled deeply.

Across the deck, Stephanie flipped through magazines on a lounge chair, temporarily relieved of mothering duty. Ethan, worn out from all the eating and swimming, was inside napping.

Beth closed her eyes. She could use a nap herself, but in a good way. She felt relaxed instead of exhausted.

“You’re a monster!” Lauren screamed.

Beth pushed up the brim of her hat and saw Lauren looming over Stephanie’s chair. She stood up straight, shocked by the sudden rancor between the two.

“What did Matt say to you?” Stephanie said.

“Tell me I’m wrong. Tell me I’m wrong, Stephanie.”

Stephanie sat up, hugging her knees to her chest.

“It was a huge, huge mistake. But it was that summer the two of you weren’t together—”

“That’s just geography! Of course we were together!”

“That’s not what he told me.”

“Well, that’s convenient. He’s not exactly around to defend himself.”

Stephanie looked stricken. “I don’t mean that as an excuse; I’m just trying to explain my thinking at the time. I was just—I rationalized that you had done the same thing to me.”

“In what universe? Do you even hear yourself?”

“I know it doesn’t make sense now. But back then…I was young. I was drunk. And I was jealous of you. It just…happened. A onetime thing.”

“And Ethan?”

What about Ethan? Beth waited for Stephanie to respond, but she didn’t.

“I hate you,” Lauren said, sobbing.