Page 41 of The New Year's Party
“I...” She shook her head. “He forgave us. Can’t we just move on? Why does it matter how Bennett found out?”
Phelps gave her a strange look. He licked his lips, then gave his head a single quick shake. “Because we didn’t sleep together.”
The world tilted. She wanted to say, “What?” But she couldn’t speak.
How could Phelps not remember? The dark room... the bottle of cognac they passed back and forth... their clasped hands... the weight of the secret she’d just told him rolling off her, giving her that same giddy lightness she’d felt just minutes ago... And then, the sound of it. Panting breaths, accelerating. Phelps’s long groan. Sheremembered.
“Bennett...” she said weakly. It wasn’t just her memories. Her husband knew. Must have seen. Phelps couldn’t just flick away the truth like this, couldn’t gaslight her—she was a gaslighting survivor; she knew the signs. Phelps was a liar and an avoider, ofcoursehe would just try to talk his way out of this one, but he couldn’t do that this time, not when her child was involved... “Bennettknew,” she repeated. “And I—I was there. Iremember.”
Phelps’s eyes were intent on her. He was so close she could see the texture of dark stubble pushing through his cheeks, his neck. His breath was warm on her face. It smelled like wine and lemon. His voice was tense. “Olivia... I’m just a little confused at the moment. What exactlydoyou remember?”
Chapter 20
Bunny
Bunny was back in the kitchen to carry out the next round of mousse. To her surprise, Nathan and Olivia seemed to be conspiring behind the fridge door. They were standing very close together. She could see their legs from the thigh down. Their feet, just an inch apart.
“What exactlydoyou remember?” she heard Nathan say.
“Mmmm, what are we whispering about?” said Bunny.
Olivia popped out, breathing fast and shallow, her face totally pale. God—had she and Nathan been making out behind there?
“I’ll take these out,” Olivia murmured, holding up two glasses of mousse and hurrying out. The paper streamers fluttered behind her.
“Gimme, gimme,” said Bunny, scrunching her hands toward Nathan as she occupied the place Olivia had been standing. As he handed her two more glasses, she leaned close and lowered her voice. “I always knew you had a thing for Olivia.” She winked. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell your date... what’s her name? Abby? Audrey?”
“Oh, myGod. Why does everyone think I’m such a douche?” Nathan sounded exasperated, which definitely confirmed to Bunny something fishy was going on. “Do youhonestly think I would ever mess around with my best friend’s wife?” He gave a bitter laugh. “Though now that you mention it, you’re not the first.”
I don’t knowwhatto think, Bunny wanted to say.I never would have guessed you’d leave your fiancée in the night with no note or explanation either.Instead she said, “Hey! I wouldn’t blame you. She’s gorgeous. Though...” She did a baby voice and jiggled her boobs. “A little flat-chested for your taste?”
“Rebecca,” he said with a serious note of warning. “Behave.”
Behave.The word was like a little dagger, straight to her heart.
“You’re one to talk, Nathan,” she spat, then marched back to the dining room to hand out the mousse.
Ugh. Her comeback hadn’t been cutting enough, hadn’t been witty. She was never witty when she felt flustered, and Nathan had a way of making her feel all kinds of stupid, even though, come on! Who was actually the stupid one? Maybe one day she’d puthimon the spot. Look him in the eye and just say it.Why did you leave me in Nashville?
Her deepest wound. Her recurring nightmare. She still dreamed about it once a month or so. The dream was always the same: she woke up in the dark to the screech of wheels. It always felt sorealtoo, like she was really awake. She got up and ran through the dark house. There were always obstacles—closed doors, piles of boxes, unexpectedly placed furniture—but if she was just fast enough, she could catch him, stop him, make him come back to bed with her... She would finally burst out into the street, and the car would be driving away but still close enough to catch, if only her legs would run, why wouldn’t theyrun? She slogged forward, straining against an invisible resistance, heaving with sobs, suddenly realizing she was pregnant,that’swhy she couldn’t run. It was the weight of the baby dragging her down, the last of Nathanshe’d ever hold, the baby she didn’t ask for and couldn’t possibly raise alone... She would wake covered in sweat and crying, andoooh, how she hated crying, thewetnessof it, theweakness.
Nathan never said why he left. At first, when she woke up and he wasn’t home, she’d thought he’d been in a car accident. Maybe he’d gotten carjacked. Kidnapped. Like a prime idiot, she called all the area hospitals. She was about to open a missing persons case. On her way to the police department, she called Will so that he could do the painful job of breaking the news to the friend group, and Will said, “Bunny... Phelps is back in Indiana. He didn’t talk to you before leaving?”
Oh, how it hurt. Stupid little Bunny.
The last one to know she’d been left.
She was back at the fridge. But her mood had done a one-eighty in the past thirty seconds.
“Here,” said Nathan, handing her two more mousse glasses. Bunny took them but didn’t move. She felt sick to her stomach. She’d come here to interrogate Will, not dig into her shit with Nathan, but here she was like a fly, circling the toxic pile of their past.
Nathan slowly registered that she wasn’t moving. Olivia came back in. Bunny handed the glasses to her and crossed her arms over her chest as Olivia disappeared into the dining room.
“What?” said Nathan. Now he sounded pissed. “I don’t have a thing with Olivia, okay? I may not be a saint, but—”
“Why did you leave me in Nashville?” she said.
Nathan pinched the bridge of his nose and breathed, “Jesus HChrist.”
