"Maybe she did love him at one time, but it wasn’t enough for forever. It wasn’t going to last. There wasn’t going to be a fairytale ending. People are complicated. Even Lori."
Ben had remained silent throughout the exchange, his eyes moving between the two women. Kelly could feel the weight of his attention, knew he was cataloging every detail, fitting this new puzzle piece into place alongside what they'd learned from Mrs. Whitfield.
“I need to get back to work," Hannah said, sliding out of the booth. "It’s lunchtime, and it’s always crazy in here. Listen, I’m sorry that you learned that about Lori. Where did you learn it, by the way? Did she tell someone else?"
Kelly didn’t know how to reply, and she didn’t need to. Someone from the kitchen was waving wildly at Hannah, beckoning her to come quickly. Hannah apologized and raced away, calling out to her employee that she would be right there.
As Hannah weaved through the tables toward the kitchen, Kelly turned to Ben, finding his eyes already on her.
"What do you think?" she asked quietly.
"I think we just found a very significant lead," he replied, his voice equally low. "If Lori was seeing someone else and that person got her pregnant..."
"They might have had a powerful motive to keep her quiet," Kelly finished. “And it would explain why Cal didn’t seem to know or suspect anything.”
They sat in silence for a moment, both processing the implications. Kelly watched an elderly couple at a nearby table, their comfortable silence born of decades together. They likely knew every secret, every story the other had to tell. She'd thought she and Lori had been like that, too.
"I don’t think Hannah’s revelation has changed anything," Ben said. "We still need to talk to Cal again. See if he had any suspicions back then."
"Do we tell him about the pregnancy?" Kelly asked.
"Not yet. Not until we know more about who she might have been seeing."
"I'm not sure we can tell anyone about what we know," she whispered. "Not until we understand what it means."
"Agreed," Ben said. nodding in agreement. “Bergen has kept enough secrets. Let's not add to them until we have to."
Kelly's mind scrolled through faces from the past. Boys who had admired Lori from afar. Men who had been suspiciously friendly. Teachers, coaches, and older brothers of friends. The possibilities seemed endless and exhausting.
"Whoever it was," she said quietly, "they were important enough for her to risk everything with Cal. Important enough that she thought they wanted what she wanted."
"We'll find them," he promised.
“You can’t know that.”
“Two days ago, we didn’t know all of this. Anything can happen. Let’s believe.”
Lori had kept secrets from her, but Kelly wouldn't let that stand in the way of justice.
“So we talk to Cal again,” Ben said. “Anyone else come to mind?”
She knew exactly who she wanted to talk to.
Keith Caldwell. He had been their English teacher back in high school. He’d also been inordinately interested in Lori.
Just what did he have to say for himself?
Kelly sank onto the couch as soon as they entered the condo, her limbs heavy with the weight of revelation. The drive back from The End Zone had passed in near silence, both of them processing Hannah's casual bombshell. Lori cheating on Cal. Lori pregnant. Lori keeping secrets from her best friend. These fragments kept circling in Kelly's head like vultures over a carcass.
Ben closed the door and followed her into the living room, sitting close but not touching. The clock on the wall ticked steadily, marking time in a world that suddenly felt unfamiliar. Outside, cars passed on the street below, the sounds filtering through the windows along with the afternoon sunlight.
"I feel like my entire friendship with Lori was a lie," Kelly finally said, her voice flat. Her hands trembled slightly as she clasped them in her lap. "My best friend was pregnant and seeing someone else, and I had no idea. None. Nada. Zip."
Ben leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "Kelly?—"
"Do not try to make me feel better," she said with a definitive shake of her head. She was in no mood to hear that people were complicated and that life was weird. "Do not tell me that teenagegirls keep secrets or that it was a different time or any of that. Just don't."
"I won't. What you're feeling is valid. I would be upset, too."
