She nodded.
“That’s fair.”
“But don’t disappear.”
Her eyes met mine.
“Why?”
“Because Tyler told both
of us different versions of the same story.”
Priya closed her briefcase.
“And the easiest way to uncover a lie is to compare the stories told to the people it was designed to separate.”
Vanessa looked at me.
For the first time, we weren’t Tyler’s wife and Tyler’s mistress.
We were two mothers standing on opposite sides of the same secret.
“I won’t disappear,” she said.
Then she walked away.
—
Mason fell asleep in the hotel room before eight.
He insisted on keeping the curtains open because he could see planes descending in the distance.
I lay beside him until his breathing slowed.
His toy airplane rested on the pillow near his face.
I brushed my fingers through his hair.
Earlier that morning, I had thought this trip would become one of our happiest family memories.
