“Yeah,” Sienna answers. “But we have to try.”
Silence fills the space again, and Sienna’s mind worksfuriously to figure out why she has a bad feeling nagging at her. Something that wasn’t there before. “Wait. You said the first night.”
Claudia turns to her. “Yeah.”
Sienna lets go of her hand and sits back in her chair. “It wasn’t just the one time.”
Shaking her head, she says, “Three times. The night of the funeral. And once when you were on a field trip to the zoo.”
“Oh,” Sienna answers, surprised by how little it matters to her now.
“He told you it was just the night that Mike died?”
“Yes.”
“I’ve never felt this bad about anything. It was the most selfish thing I’ve ever done.”
“It doesn’t matter. It’s actually a good thing because I don’t have to second guess myself again. He’s a liar. And a cheat. And he’s not going to change.”
They’re both quiet again, then Sienna says, “I’m sorry I talked you into getting bangs.”
“I’m sorry I fucked your husband.”
“Yeah, that’s worse, isn’t it?”
“It is.”
“But the bangs were pretty bad,” Sienna answers, causing them both to laugh. When they finish, everything that had been blurry becomes clear. Sienna feels her pulse speed up and her stomach flips as she lets the words go. “You can have him, you know. He’s all yours if you want him. With my blessing.”
Claudia faces Sienna, her eyes narrowed in disbelief. “Really?”
“Yeah, really. I won’t cause any trouble. Well, notmuchtrouble anyway. Expect the odd snarky comment for the restof your lives,” she says, feeling as though a tremendous weight is being lifted with each word. “And for God’s sake, go in with your eyes wide open.”
Claudia sighs, then says, “I don’t think I want him either.”
“I thought you were madly in love with him.”
“I thought so too, but maybe it was just … an extremely intense infatuation. He’s honestly been very disappointing since Elliott was born.”
“The hero never lives up to the hype.”
Nodding, Claudia says, “It was thePeoplephoto shoot that did it, actually. He was so … perfect at being utterly phony. It was clear he had no emotional connection to his son. I thought maybe he’d cry a little, you know? He could’ve played it off as missing Mike. But…”
“Nothing.”
“Yeah, nothing,” Claudia answers, and nothing more needs to be said. They both understand the message by heart. After a second, she says, “There’s something else too. Something that concerns Ivy.”
Sienna feels her back go up at the mention of her child. “What’s that?”
“I heard her saying she is writing songs now, and it’s none of my business if she writes for Zane or not, but it’s come to my attention that Zane might have a disturbing pattern of taking credit for songs he didn’t write.”
She snorts dismissively. “What?Nooo. He’s a lot of bad things, but one thing he’s not is a thief. He’s an extremely talented songwriter.”
“I’m not saying he can’t write, but I picked up a copy of his ex-wife’s poetry, and man, you could set any of those poems to the melody of ‘Faded Denim’ and they would fit perfectly,” Claudia told her. “He also did it to me.”
“‘If I Didn’t Have Her’?”
Nodding, she says, “It was originally me.”
