Page 120 of Someone to Remember
“You, too.”
“Sorry,” he says. “That was awkward. I figured everyone knew by now.”
“No need to be sorry.”
“I shouldn’t have brought you to a place where they knew her.”
“It’s no big deal. Really. It’s bound to happen to both of us.”
While I honestly believe that’s true, the encounter with Callie has changed the entire vibe of the evening—and not for the better.
Twenty-Seven
Brad
What was I thinking, bringing her here where people knew Mary Alice and would naturally ask about her when they saw me with another woman? Honestly, it never occurred to me that there were people who knew us who haven’t heard she died. Thanks to Angela’s proximity to the president and first lady, it was a big story when their brother-in-law died of fentanyl poisoning. I assume the entire world knows about what happened to all the victims, but why would they pay that kind of attention?
What was a nuclear bomb in my life barely registered to others.
I’m out of sorts after Callie’s shock at seeing me with someone who isn’t Mary Alice, as if I’m cheating on my wife or something. Or maybe she thinks it’s too soon for me to be out with someone else.
“Do you want to go?” Angela asks quietly.
I realize I’ve been in a heck of a brood for quite a few minutes.
“No, I’m sorry. That was just…”
“I know. I get it. What’re you thinking?”
“Did she think I was cheating on my wife at a place we used to go together? Is she appalled that I’m already out with someone new? And why do I care what she thinks?”
“From everything I’ve read and heard, dating again is the most fraught of all the terribly fraught young widow challenges. Everyone has opinions, and they feel free to share them with someone who’s so tender and raw that the words lacerate deeply.”
I’m nodding from the first use of the wordfraught. It’s all so fraught with peril and heartache and sadness and hope. “Don’t they know… We’d give anything to go back to who and what we were the day before? That we’d give anything to not have lost the person we loved the most?”
“All they see is someone who used to be married venturing out with someone new. They see blood in the water.”
“They need to get a life and stay out of mine.”
“Point of order… Callie didn’t do anything wrong. She was just surprised because she hadn’t heard about Mary Alice.”
“I wonder how that’s possible with all the publicity the story got.”
“Thanks to my connection to the first couple.”
“And because the fentanyl topic is one that gets a lot of attention, especially in a situation like ours.”
“Yes, that, too.”
“It’s astonishing to me that someone who knew us didn’t know she died. It never occurred to me that some people hadn’t heard.”
A waitress comes to the table, apologizes for the wait, and recites the list of specials and takes our drink order.
Angela asks for a glass of Chardonnay, while I have a draft beer.
“Brad.”
I glance at her.
