“Diana!”
“Okay, okay,” she says, skimming the pages. “There are a bunch of numbers here with Massachusetts area codes: 617, 781, 413.”
“That doesn’t mean she’s nearby,” Lakshmi says. “You have her number, don’t you?”
Diana removes the paper with Jessica’s phone number from her purse and compares it to the last four digits on the bill. “It’s the same.Strange that Grace had the right phone number but was wrong about where Jessica lives.”
“Call her. Or text her.”
“And say what? Coming here was hard enough. I thought if she saw me, maybe I could convince her to tell me what she knows. Via text, she could ignore me. Or block me. Like she’s clearly doing to Nikki.”
“Come on, call her. Give it a try.”
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”
Lakshmi waits, her head tilted to the side. She starts humming, a smile growing on her face.
Diana groans. “Celine Dion?”
“It’s about not giving up.” Lakshmi claps her hands. “Would you like me to sing? My voice isn’t as good as Celine’s, of course.”
“Point made,” Diana concedes. “I’ll call her. Just don’t sing.”
As she dials, her stomachache from earlier returns. With the last number, a beep sounds.This number is not in service.
“A dead end.” Diana hands the phone to Lakshmi and collapses against the seat. All the adrenaline that pumped through her as she climbed the stairs is gone, and she’s drained. It’s time to go home.
Lakshmi listens to the recording and returns the phone to Diana. “It’s not a dead end. It’s a bump in the road. You’re going to have to figure out another way to get to her. That’s all.”
“I—”
“You what?”
“Nothing.”
“Hmm,” Lakshmi says, waiting for what else Diana has to say.
Diana fiddles with the pile of mail. “I thought I knew Tom. I thought he trusted me. That what we had was real.”
Lakshmi’s seat squeaks as she shifts to face Diana. “Your marriage was real. He did love you.”
“Why didn’t he tell me about all of this when he was alive?”
“Maybe he couldn’t?”
“What do you mean?”
“We keep part of ourselves secret, Diana. All of us do. I think of how desperately I wanted to quit my job. I wanted that for years, but I didn’t want to disappoint Ramesh. I convinced myself he’d think less of me if I wasn’t a successful lawyer. It took that harassment suit for me to see how stupid that was. He was thrilled when I told him I wanted to try a new career. He’d been worried for some time that I wasn’t happy at work. I had no idea he felt that way. Opening up earlier would have been better for both of us.” Lakshmi tugs at her braid. “My story isn’t the same as Tom’s, of course, but the idea we all keep a part of ourselves hidden is true, isn’t it? Maybe there are always limits to knowing someone else. Even when we love them.”
“That means everyone is keeping secrets.” Diana is keeping a secret, too, isn’t she? Chris. He called last night, and they talked for an hour after the kids went to bed. While neither of them made any promises, he did ask to see her again. Diana used Duncan and Phoebe as an excuse to put him off, though that will only work for so long.
“Is it a secret?” Lakshmi continues. “Or is it protecting a part of yourself you’re not ready to show? I keep coming back to the purpose of the letter. What did he want you to do with it? Did he expect you to track down Grace and Jessica? Or did he only want to warn you about those ‘other people’? Though if it was the latter, a direct approach would have been much better.”
“I have no idea,” Diana sighs.
“Maybe Jessica is the key to all of this.”
“Maybe.” Diana stuffs Jessica’s mail and the paper with Jessica’s contact details into her purse and drops it on the car floor.
