Chapter 6 - Daniel’s failure
Daniel asked to speak with me alone.
I said no.
Then yes the following day.
Hospital door open.
Nurse nearby.
I no longer cared whether that made him uncomfortable.
He sat.
“I’m sorry.”
I almost laughed.
“For which part?”
“All of it.”
“Too broad.”
He nodded.
Good.
“I believed your mother.”
“Yes.”
“I believed Olivia.”
“Yes.”
“I thought…”
He stopped.
“Say it.”
“I thought you were protecting yourself.”
“From what?”
“From admitting you waited.”
“I told you I didn’t.”
“I know.”
“You had hospital records.”
“Yes.”
“You had my call at 2:16.”
“Yes.”
“You were with me by 2:42.”
“Yes.”
“So why did two screenshots beat all of that?”
His eyes filled.
“Because Karen told me you’d admitted it to her.”
There.
The lie I had never known.
“What?”
“She said you called her from the hospital bathroom after I went to speak to the doctor.”
I stared.
“She said you told her you’d been spotting since morning and didn’t want me to know.”
“That never happened.”
“I know now.”
“No. You could have known then.”
He looked down.
“Yes.”
That was the first useful answer.
“I wanted an explanation,” he said. “Something I could point at.”
“And I became it.”
“Yes.”
“You called me selfish.”
“Yes.”
“You said maybe June would be alive if I hadn’t cared so much about work.”
His face twisted.
“I know.”
“That sentence ended us.”
“I know.”
No excuse.
No:
I was grieving.
He was.
It still had been his mouth.
I said:
“Karen lied. Olivia helped her. You chose to believe them.”
“Yes.”
“Those are three separate things.”
“Yes.”
May you like
Good.
We were beginning with verbs.
