“If you carry on, you’ll be exposed! Your sister will lose her health benefits, so it won’t do anyone any good. But it will also destroy any chancesyouhave in the election, Sid. No one wants to see a former TNS soldier cheating the system.”
“You’re just scared that if he goes down, you will too,” I fire back.
Tom’s eyes flick over me. “Frankly? Yes. Though I would omit thejust. You conjure up a diverse range of terrifying possibilities, Ms. Hollins. I seriously doubt either one of us knows half your story, and that concerns me.”
A chill goes down my spine. He knows I lied on my papers. Well, maybe he doesn’tknow, but he suspects.
“Is there anything you want to tell me?” he asks. “Anything that would put my mind at ease?”
This is a trap. He wants to get me to admit to lying so that Sid won’t trust me and will get the annulment. Obviously, it’s not going to work.
“Anything I want to tell you? You’remyimmigration officer. You’re supposed to be helping me. Or are you just going to tell me to surrender April to the government, too?”
“Surrender April? Why would you say that?”
“That’s what Doctor Tremblay told me to do.”
Tom nods. “I see. Think about what I’ve said, Sid. I don’t want you to lose everything you’ve worked for.”
“When I said get out, I meant it,” I snap.
“I understand.” Tom rises from his seat. He doesn’t so much as look at me as he packs up his briefcase and hobbles towards the door.
“You’re as bad as Doctor Tremblay. Worse.” I can’t resist letting one more barb fly. “At leasthegave April medicine.”
Tom’s shoulders stiffen as he takes hold of the door handle, but he doesn’t rise to my bait. “Good day, Ms. Hollins.”
With that, he’s out the door. The second it’s shut, I slam my hand as hard as I can against the table, choking back a scream that I don’t want to give Tom the satisfaction of hearing. I was doing so well, but that bastard got to me anyway. Now he’s gone, I feel foolish and weak. Worse still, I look that way in front of Sid.
I know he’s pissed too, but while I’m hitting things and boiling over, he’s gone silent. All the anger is carefully tucked away. If he were to express it now, would it be directed at me?
“Sid?”
He lets out a slow breath. “Well.Thatcould have gone better.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault. I mean, it’sbothour faults. We weren’t ready for him.”
“No. I guess we weren’t.”
He’s being incredibly generous, not laying the full blame at my feet. I’m not sure it even matters who’s at fault. All I need from our marriage is insulin. He’s the one who needs us to keep up appearances, and for a logical guy like Sid, any failure is failure. What does it matter how it happened?
“This isn’t working, is it?” he says.
“But itcouldwork! He caught us off guard. And he’s your friend, right? It’s harder to lie to friends.” Until now, I hadn’t known what Sid meant when he talked about his relationship with Tom, but tonight I think I got a peek. He clearly takes Tom’s opinion seriously, especially about the election.
“I guess.” Sid shakes his head. “But he isn’t wrong, Kayla.”
“No! We can do this.” I grab Sid’s hands, making him look at me properly. “We screwed up today, but he knew things about us that normal people wouldn’t. No one has to know about the slingshot or April’s insulin. You want a sweet little wife softening your image? I will do that! I will be that.”
“No offence, but who would use the wordssweet little wifeto refer to you?”
“Oh, come on!” I smack his arm, proving his point, but we’re both fighting back smiles. The sight gives me a shred of hope to cling to. “There must be something I can do. At the very least, I can totally make it look like I love you. You’re very lovable. And if everyone sees me thinking you’re great, they’ll think you’re great too, right?”
Those words only make his blue eyes cloud over. “Kayla, you can’t eventalkto me anymore. I’m not saying I blame you, but—”
“No.” My voice cracks. He still thinks I’m afraid of him or hate him or some combination of the two.
