Page 65 of Dead Man's Hollow
“Oh. I’m so sorry.” Chloe looks as if she’s about to say something more, but then she takes a drink of wine instead.
“What do you want to say?” Amy demands. “Spit it out.”
“Was he … unfaithful?”
Amy freezes. Does she remember being with Rich? But he didn’t cheat on her with Heather, he was cheating on Julia.
“What makes you ask that?”
Chloe blushes faintly. Heather always did turn pink at the slightest hint of embarrassment, Amy remembers.
“Bastian overhead you two arguing at the airport. He thought perhaps Rich had strayed. Please understand, he didn’t mean to eavesdrop—he would never.”
Amy waves a hand. “It’s okay. We were in a public place. I wouldn’t have chosen it for that conversation, but I needed to make it clear to him that he wasn’t coming home with us.” She takes a long drink, nearly draining her glass. “And he didn’t cheat on me. Not exactly. Not the way you’re thinking.”
Chloe furrows her brow. “So, it was an emotional affair?”
Amy gives her a look. “A what?”
“I read about it in a magazine,” she confesses.
They both giggle. Chloe tips her head back and finishes her wine. Then she holds out her hand. “I’ll get the refills.”
Amy hesitates. “I really shouldn’t.”
“Are you driving somewhere?”
“Well, no.”
“Performing surgery later?”
Amy laughs. “Not on my schedule,” she admits.
“Then hand over the glass.”
Chloe grins at her, and she’s Heather at twelve, convincing Diana’s boyfriend to let her drive his car in the Bargain Foods parking lot. Heather at fifteen, wheedling a beer from an older cousin. Heather at sixteen, shaking her rump toRump Shaker.Dazed by her sister’s familiar impishness, Amy gives her the glass.
Chloe returns with two pours that clearly exceed the Sharpie mark. Amy shrugs and extends her glass.
“To your health,” she says.
“À ta santé,”Chloe replies. “So ….”
“So, Rich didn’t have an affair, emotional or otherwise, during our marriage. He did something before we were married that he’s lied about and withheld from me all this time.”
Chloe frowns as if she’s trying to decide if Rich’s sin warrants being kicked out of his home. Then she shakes her head. “I’m not good at relationship stuff,” she confesses.
“What? You and Bastian are obviously head over heels. Even though you’ve been together at least long enough to have parented Ava’s new BFF.”
Chloe laughs. “Oh, that doesn’t count. He’s my soulmate. And we’ve been together much longer than Emilie’s been with us. We were together for nearly thirteen years before she was born.”
Amy gapes. “Really?”
“I met Bastian when I was eighteen.” She stops. “Wait. Maisy said I’m a year older than I think I am. So I guess I was nineteen. We started dating in 1997. We got married in 2009.”
“Why bother at that point?”
“That was our thinking. Marriage isn’t as much of a thing there. We were in a committed relationship. We were in love. But we tried to have a baby for five years and, no luck. Bastian’sgrand-mèretold us to get married. It seemed silly, a formality. But, sure enough, we had a civil ceremony and, poof, I was pregnant.”
