“I’m Richard,” he said.
Somehow he was already right next to me, shaking my hand. I pulled away as quickly as I could, but it was too late. I’d felt it. Deep in my bones. Like a ghost moving through me.
***
I lie in bed staring at the ceiling after I get home, unable to sleep. Noah was right. I could have said no, could have told Richard Icouldn’t meet. Because what I know is this: No matter how many times I tell myself that I’m just trying to be a good, supportive friend, it’s not true. Richard has a million friends and, oh, yes, a wife. He does not need me.
And I do not need him. I don’t.
As soon as I close my eyes, my phone vibrates on my nightstand. It’s late. When I lift the phone, it’s an unfamiliar number, 508 area code. Massachusetts, I think. A wrong number, probably, or spam. But my brain catches on something as I watch the call ring. Because I do know one person in Massachusetts, don’t I? Maybe. That was a long time ago.
Finally, the call registers as missed. I wait a few more moments. No voicemail. I put my phone back down and try again to sleep, but it’s nagging at me, even though I know I’m overreacting. It’s an area code, a state, that’s all.
Then a ding. A text notification.Shit.I peer at the screen.
How are you?
Richard—relief, joy, guilt. One after another, then all together, in a demented chorus. I shouldn’t bethathappy to hear from him. But I am. If I learned anything climbing that mountain on the other side of the world, it’s that you can’t pretend away your feelings, no matter how inconvenient. You can’t erase them, or outsmart them, or rationalize them away. Not the real ones. Those you can’t outrun, no matter how high you climb.
I stare at Richard’s text as if there is a chance I will leave it unanswered.
Things are…okay. What about you?
Okay, I guess. Actually…not great. We still on for coffee?
My hands are damp around my phone in the silence and the dark.
Yes. When do you want to meet?
Grand Jury Transcript
Testimony of Thalia Perez
Conducted by Abigail Hoffman, Assistant District Attorney
November 27
Q. How did you become acquainted with Frankie Callahan?
A. We met at NYU. Freshman year in college. Our rooms were down the hall from each other.
Q. Did Ms. Callahan have many boyfriends back then?
A. Many? I don’t think she had many. I think she had a normal amount. We were in college.
Q. Did Ms. Callahan have a tendency to date married men?
A. What does that have to do with anything?
Q. Ms. Perez, can you please just answer the question?
A. It feels like an attack on Frankie, not a question.
Q. Are you aware of any time when Frankie Callahan had a romantic relationship with a married man?
A. I don’t see what that has to do with anything.
Q. Did Ms. Callahan have a relationship with a married man on one occasion or more than one occasion?
