Now, watching her smile, I wondered how much of her I had ever truly met.
“You were cruel today,” I said.
She rolled her eyes lightly. “To Megan? Please. She wanted you to feel sorry for her. That’s what women like her do.”
“Women like her.”
“Don’t start.” Claire came toward me and placed a hand on my chest. “You saw two babies and got emotional. That doesn’t erase what she did.”
“What did she do?”
Claire blinked once. “Are you serious?”
“I want to hear you say it.”
“She cheated. She stole. She humiliated you.”
The words came easily. Too easily. Memorized lines in a play she had performed for a year.
“And you believe that?” I asked.
Her hand stilled. “Why wouldn’t I?”
I covered her hand with mine and gently moved it away. “I’m tired.”
Something changed in her eyes then—not fear exactly, but calculation waking from sleep.
