“I’m working on it,” I tell him.
“Then get to working,” Marshall says.
“Keep me posted,” I tell him. “And maybe plan your trip to the Peaks sooner than later. I could use the backup.”
“You got it, Rhett.”
I hang up, then head inside. The best way to do something ugly is to get it over with. I learned that in the military, and I learned it with force, and my current employment definitely reinforces it.
“Elle, I mentioned it last night. And I’m sorry. I know you want to pretend?—”
Her chair screeches as she pushes it back. She glares at me. “Okay, okay, big deal. You read about what happened to me. There. Band-Aid off. Can we just move on with our lives now? It’s not a big deal.”
“It’s more than that.”
Mira is staring at me, looking far older than she is, vigorously shaking her head. Elle notices, turns, then turns back to me. She does a double take, then a triple take.
“Doyouknow?” She asks Mira.
“It’s nothing,” Mira says. “You don’t want to know, Sissy.”
“Now I have to,” Elle snaps, turning back to me.
“Sissy—”
“Tell me, then,” Elle says. “If you’re so determined to live in the real world.”
“I was there that night,” I spit out. She drops into her seat. “I was the police officer who carried Mira from the scene, and I saw you, briefly. I saw what happened to your parents. I responded to the call, but it wasn’t my case.”
She wraps her arms around her middle, shaking her head.
“Why!” Mira leaps from her chair. “Now look what you’ve done!”
“I’m fine,” Elle says, staring off into space with a shellshocked expression. A ghost of a smile touches her lips. “It’s funny, you know. Meet a guy, have some fun, let yourself, ha-ha, believe, and then it all comes rushing back.”
“Sissy, he’s still… Rhett.” Mira’s shoulders slump.
“Elle, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner,” I say. “Mira remembered me and I?—”
“He wanted to tell you!” Mira yells. “I told him not to, Sissy.”
“None of that matters,” I cut in. “What matters is that I knew, and I said nothing.”
“Why?” Elle looks up at me. “The first day, the first time we talked, why didn’t you just say anything?”
“I guess I wanted you to forget. To pretend.”
Elle laughs hollowly. “I liked pretending. I can’t lie about that. But I also feel like I might be sick, so I’m not really sure what part to focus on.”
I sit, reach my hand across the table, then draw it back when I realize she won’t take it. Would holding her hand even be a good idea now? Mira twists her hands together, eyes glassy.
“There’s something else,” I say quietly. “You deserve the full truth.”
“What now?” Elle says tiredly.
I almost don’t want to tell her. The look in her eyes is too tragic, too exhausted. It’s like she just wants a break from the bleakness of life… and she deserves one.
“I don’t think we should discuss it in front of Mira,” I say. “It’s your decision if you want to tell her after, but?—”
