Page 58 of Trial and Error

“When did this happen?”

“Last night,” she says, “I stayed at the house because we didn’t want to upset the kids, but he slept in the guest room. Things felt weird this morning…and all I wanted to do was see you. I sat in the bedroom for an hour and just debated whether or not call. Bridget, I⁠—”

“I’m glad you did,” I tell her honestly. “How long has this been going on for?”

She shrugs. “I don’t know, pretty close to the start of our relationship.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I was embarrassed and I felt like I was going crazy and thought you might think I was crazy, too. Bridget, you always have your shit figured out and I felt like you wouldn’t understand if I told you.”

I scoff. “I think you and I both know I’m far from perfect and I really don’t have my shit together—not really.”

Imani nods. “Can we talk⁠—”

A knock at the door cuts her off. I smile apologetically and head over to the door, swinging it open and my eyes widen.

Elias.

I grin, then frown, looking over my shoulder at Imani who is looking around me, trying to see who it is. She purses her lips tightly, looking between the two of us with narrowed eyes.

“Hey,” Elias breathes out, looking down at me with a warm smile, and for a second I forget Imani is here. He notices my frown and then matches it with one of his own. “Is everything okay?”

Imani gets up from the couch, and Elias looks over my head at the moment and his frown deepens. I watch as she moves to where her shoes are. “I didn’t realize you had plans today,” Imani says as she picks up her sneakers. “I’ll get out of the way.”

“No, I’ll leave,” Elias comments and then looks at me. “I’m sorry for dropping by unannounced.”

“It’s fine,” I tell him and then look at Imani when I hear the quiet scoff, and I clench my jaw. “Imani, where are you going?”

“I don’t know, back home, I guess.”

I sigh. “Imani, I’m not doing this again, so if you leave, that’s it.”

She raises her brows. “You’re just going to cut off our friendship then? For some guy?”

“Don’t turn this around on me. You’re the one who left with an incorrect narrative without giving me a chance to explain myself.” I then turn to Elias. “You’re coming in and we’re all going to talk about this like adults.”

Elias shoots me a supportive look as he makes his way into the apartment. Imani looks torn as he presses a light kiss to my cheek and shrugs his jacket off. She watches him with interest as he puts his things down, noting his familiarity with the space.

The two of them sit on the couch and I grab one of the chairs tucked under the dining room table and sit it down opposite them. “You didn’t give me—give us—a chance to explain the situation that night,” I tell her.

“I’m all ears.”

I look over at Elias, silently asking for his permission to tell her his part of this story, and he nods. “It started off just as you know it did. The party with Tom and how it was just meant to be a one-time thing but things changed—and not necessarily good things happened, but it’s why we’re here.”

She frowns. “What things?”

Elias clears his throat and shifts to look at her. “My mom found out that I have a ‘fiancée.’ Caroline, Tom’s aunt, who goes to her book club asked her about it, and she didn’t know because it wasn’t real. Anyway, she came over and insisted she met Bridget…so we did. We went for lunch and it went great. The plan was to end it, but then she told us she was…” Elias stops talking as soon as his voice trembles, and I itch to reach for him.

It dawns on me that this is most likely the first time that he’s had to say it out loud to someone and all I want to do is wrap my arms around him and hold him as he does.

“Then she told us she has cancer and that it’s untreatable.”

Imani frowns, her eyes growing glossy.

“She asked that we move the wedding up so that she could be there. I was ready to come clean, but Bridget had other plans.”

I chuckle softly at the amused smile that pulls at his lips. “I told her that we would make her last year special. So, right now, we’re in the midst of planning a wedding that doesn’t exist and trying to figure out what the fuck we’re doing.”