Chapter 2
Wren's friend handed the phone back to her.
The screen still showed the three of them beneath the graduation banner. Grant had one arm around Wren and the other around Elise.
Wren looked at the picture, then locked her phone.
Graduates swept between us. Someone called Wren's name; she raised her diploma folder but kept walking.
Grant took Elise's camera bag and carried it over his shoulder.
I followed them toward the parking lot.
Cars crawled between the rows as parents loaded flowers and folding chairs into open trunks. Blue-and-silver balloons knocked above the roofs.
Grant unlocked our SUV.
Elise went directly to the front passenger door. Her white rose brushed the window as she reached for the handle.
"How long?" I asked.
Grant glanced at the families walking past us. "Camille, not here."
"You kissed her in front of the entire graduating class."
He lowered his voice. "We don't need to do this in a parking lot."
"Then you should have told me before today."
Elise's hand remained on the door handle. She looked at Grant, waiting.
"How long?" I asked again.
Grant shifted the camera bag higher on his shoulder.
"Elise came back into Wren's life eight months ago."
"That wasn't my question."
A car stopped behind us. The driver waited for Grant to move out of the lane.
Grant guided Elise closer to the SUV before answering.
"Six months."
The driver honked, and Grant stepped aside.
"Six months of what?"
His eyes moved toward Wren.
"We got close again."
"You were sleeping with her."
"Camille," Elise said softly.
I turned toward her.
She lowered her eyes and adjusted the ribbon around her white rose. She did not deny it.
Grant opened the passenger door for her. "It wasn't planned."
"Was the kiss planned?"
His mouth tightened.
Wren pressed the diploma folder harder against her chest. One corner began to bend beneath her fingers.
I faced her.
"Did you know before today that this was more than your parents talking again?"
She glanced toward the open car door.
"I knew they were in contact."
"That isn't what I asked."
"I knew they were spending time together."
"You watched your father kiss her and didn't even look surprised."
Wren looked down at the folder.
"Wren."
She pulled the folder closer.
"I knew they were getting close."
"How close?"
Her fingers pressed another crease into the cardboard.
"I knew it wasn't just talking anymore."
The answer came out low, almost lost beneath the slam of a nearby trunk.
Her eyes flicked toward Elise. "I was scared that if I told you, she'd disappear again." Color rose higher in her face. "I knew it was wrong. I just wanted more time."
Wren finally looked at me.
"I wanted to see what happened."
"While I was still married to him?"
Her face tightened.
"You and Dad haven't been happy for a long time."
"Did he tell you that?"
"No."
"Then who did?"
"I could see it."
Two nights earlier, she had sat at the kitchen island while I helped her finish her college housing forms. She had asked whether she should choose the quiet floor because she was worried about sleeping.
She had known then.
"Mom came back because she wanted to know me," Wren said.
The word Mom made Elise lift her head.
"You were allowed to know her," I said. "You were not allowed to help your father lie to me."
"I wasn't lying."
"You let me walk into that field without telling me what I was going to see."
Wren's eyes filled, but her grip on the diploma folder did not loosen.
"I knew you'd try to stop it."
"How could you know that when you never gave me the chance?"
Grant checked his watch.
His phone buzzed in his pocket. He looked at the screen and silenced the call.
"The caterer is almost at the house," he said.
I stared at him.
"They need someone to open the side gate. The cake delivery is right behind them, and my parents are already on the way."
"You expect me to go home and host the party."
"I'm telling you forty people are about to arrive at a locked house."
Another call appeared on his screen. This one was labeled CATERING.
Grant declined it.
Wren looked toward me. The corner of her diploma folder was crushed now.
"The guest book is still in your car," she said. "And the table cards."
Elise opened the passenger door wider but did not get in.
Grant removed the house key from his ring.
I did not hold out my hand.
He took the folded graduation program from my fingers, placed the key on top of it, and pressed both back into my palm.
"The caterer will be there in ten minutes."