“Excuse me?” It was a second before I understood. “Oh, God. My phone.” Sitting up in the dark, I groped through the covers in search, but Edward found it in the rumple of sheets under his leg.
He handed it to me. Its screen was lit and a harsh intrusion. I put it facedown on the nightstand.
“Don’t want to check it?”
Still up on an elbow, I looked down at him. “No.”
“You sure?”
“Very. I don’t want people telling me aboutPeopleorThe Devon Times.”
“Maybe they’re calling about something else.”
I simply shook my head. My friends were wonderfully loyal to me and I to them, but for none of them was I the “person to contact in case of emergency,” and if it wasn’t an emergency now, I didn’t want to talk, at least, not with them.
I started to lie down again but stopped, unsure. When Edward opened his arm, I went the rest of the way.
We lay quietly. For a time, I was content enough not to say anything. But the room was dark, and no, I didn’t want to talk with friends, but maybe I did want to talk with my ex-husband.
“Edward?”
“Mmm?”
“Why did you come here tonight?”
He shifted his hips to get comfortable. “I knew you were upset.”
Upset was putting it mildly. “I was bitchy to Nina and bitchy to Chris and bitchy to Joyce.”
“Joyce?”
“She called you. So I walked right past her without a word.”
“She understands, Maggie.”
“How much does she know?”
“Most everything. I wanted her to let me know if Shanahan came again, and she asked just the right questions, no more, and she’s like a mother.”
I grunted. “Not like mine.”
“Or mine. That’s what makes her so appealing.”
“She didn’t say anything to me.”
“Why would she?”
“I don’t know.” But I did. It was a whole other side of me, one that was neither pretty nor praiseworthy. Looking back, I didn’t see anything she had done in my regard that was different. But I couldn’t see into her deepest thoughts. They had to have changed. How could she not think less of me for killing my child?
He sighed. “Jesus, Maggie.”
“What?”
“Get past it.”
I wanted to tell him he was wrong. I wanted to say that wasn’t what I’d been thinking at all. But this was Edward. So I just said, “I’m trying.”
We were quiet for a bit. Then, he said, “You’re okay with Nina knowing?”
