“I get it,” I tell her. I still don’t get why Ellie didn’t tell me any of this, though. I would have told her not to get involved.
“I don’t expect you to understand. Ellie kept this from you and you have every right to be angry and heartbroken, but I promise you she kept this from you because she loved you.” It doesn’t matter how many times she says this, the thought of secrets, secrets this fucking big, between us, hurts like hell.
“I need a break from this conversation. My head might explode trying to come to terms with all of this.” Ellie was a strong-minded woman. If there was something she wanted to accomplish, nothing was getting in her way. It doesn’t come as a surprise that she would bust her way into the chief of surgery’s office just to tell him what’s what. Onlymy wifecould control what happens to her organs after she dies. The thought brings a proud smile to my face—a foreign feeling when considering the unknown details of Ellie’s life I’ve come to learn in recent months. What I do know is that she wanted Ari to live. She made that happen.
“We should join everyone. The food is going to get cold,” Ari says. I place my arm around her and lead her out to the dining room, pulling out a seat for her.
“I want to sit next to Ari,” Olive says breathlessly, as she runs into the dining room. “And Daddy, you can sit on the other side of Ari.”
Everyone circled around the table is quiet except AJ, who is chewing his bread obnoxiously loud while taking the time to stare at each one of us for several seconds.
“So,” he says, pointing with his butter knife. “You two know each other?” He points back and forth between Charlotte and Ari. “Small world, huh?” The room goes utterly silent.Oh God, AJ. Shut the hell up!I yell, inside my head, while trying to catch his eye.
“I would hardly say we know each other,” Ari responds. “Charlotte was just a lovely person who brought me flowers on occasion.”
“Did you know Ari received Ellie’s heart?” AJ continues with a question to Charlotte, a question I considered asking but decided to hold off on after the way the last conversation ended.
“You and Ellie were friends, right?” Charlotte asks Ari, redirecting from AJ’s question.
“We just worked together, but yes, you could call us friends.” Keeping my thoughts to myself. Keeping my thoughts to myself. I knew all of Ellie’s friends. All of them except Ari.Why did you keep this from me, Ellie?
“And Ellie promised you her heart once she died?” Charlotte continues.
“Well—” Ari stumbles.
“Ah,” Charlotte says. “Don made it very clear he was not going to lose you. I assumed the mishandling of papers might have had something to do with your case but I never knew for sure.” Charlotte isn’t being rude with the way in which she’s stating her realization. Instead, her jaw is grinding back and forth, suppressing what looks like a possible grin. “That man was a total a-hole to me and never failed to let me down, but to his patients—some of his patients—he wouldneverlet a beautiful girl like yourself down.”
“I’m sorry you had to find out like this,” Ari says, cautiously.
“It doesn’t really matter now,” Charlotte says. “It’s actually nice to finally have an answer to what happened.”
“Nothing happened…” Ari says, sounding on the brink of tears.
Charlotte allows a slight smile to form over her lips, almost as if she’s grateful for the answers. “Thank you.”
Silence consumes the table and the discomfort grows ten-fold. Lana and Olive are staring at each other with perplexity, and AJ and Lance are probably trying to figure out what the hell everyone is talking about. I never intended for tonight to end up like this. I didn’t think tonight through very well, obviously, and we have gotten way off track from celebrating Lana’s birthday.
“We have a birthday girl here tonight,” I say. “That’s why we’re all here so let’s put everything else aside so we can let Lana enjoy her favorite dinner.”
“You started it,” Olive says, her nose crunched up and her bottom lip pursed over her top.
Charlotte snorts and mutters something under her breath, which I’m assuming is some type of sarcasm.
“So,” Ari says, following my lead, “how old are you today, Lana?”
Lana holds up a hand full of fingers and then two more fingers on her other hand, but doesn’t speak up.She’s upset. Lana is always talking unless something is bothering her.
“Sweetie, is something wrong?” Charlotte asks her.
“Is Daddy a bad man?” she asks, fingering a hole into the piece of bread in her hand.
Again, we’re all silent. Normally, we’re careful about what we say out loud but things slip in anger. “No, Lana, your dad is not a bad man.” Charlotte closes her eyes and clasps her fingers together. My attention is drawn to her hands, noticing the red polish coating her nails. I have never seen her nails done before tonight. She’s a t-shirt and jeans girl. I take a better look at her face and see she’s wearing way more makeup than usual, too. Is she trying to impress this dickwad?
“Are you lying?” Lana asks.
“Do I lie to you?” Charlotte snaps back.
“No,” Lana replies.
