“Yes.”
“Did you love her?”
“Yes.”
The word hurt.
It deserved to.
“What happened?”
“I kept waiting for the right time to change things.”
“And the right time never came.”
“No.”
“That sounds familiar.”
“It is.”
“Did she leave because you wouldn’t tell people?”
“Not only because of that.”
“But partly.”
“Yes.”
Ellie stood and went to the window. The phone remained on the desk, showing me half the room and the edge of her shoulder.
“Why would you do the same thing again?”
“I didn’t think I was.”
She turned.
“That may be worse.”
“I thought Pelican Key was temporary. A few days as Annie, and then I would tell you before it mattered.”
“It mattered to me before you decided it did.”
“You’re right.”
“That still isn’t an explanation.”
I looked at the legal pad on the floor.
Claire’s name beneath the bottle.
“Every good moment made the truth feel riskier,” I said. “So I moved the line.”
“Until someone else told me.”
“Yes.”
Ellie folded her arms.
