Chapter 2
“Ryan? Can you bring me the blue dress?” Emma called again.
The blue dress was lying across my side of the bed.
Ryan reached past me, picked it up, and carried it to the bathroom door.
Only then did Emma notice me.
She stepped out wearing a white robe, her hair pinned away from her face. “Oh. You’re home early.”
“I get home at this time after every night shift.”
“Right. Sorry.” She glanced at the photography lights. “I lost track of the days.”
“I need to shower and sleep. How long will it take to move all this?”
“I’m supposed to send the video to a client this afternoon. I’ve already set the lighting.”
“I need the bedroom now.”
“If it’s really a problem, I can move everything.”
“It is a problem.”
She looked at Ryan.
He set the dress over her arm. “Could Claire use the guest room for a few hours?”
He was asking Emma where I could sleep in my own house.
“I can clear the bed,” she said.
Ryan turned to me. “There. That works.”
I opened the guest-room door.
Two open suitcases, shipping boxes, and piles of clothes covered the bed. My spare gray blanket hung beneath one suitcase, its corner dragging on the floor.
Emma stopped behind me. “I only need a minute.”
Ryan pointed at the mattress. “Just clear enough for her to lie down.”
I looked at him. “Between the suitcases?”
“What about the couch?”
Downstairs, a white backdrop stood behind it. A second camera faced the coffee table.
“I’m filming down here next,” Emma said. “In about an hour.”
Ryan rubbed his face.
“Claire, you only need to sleep. Emma has to work.”
For a moment, I thought I had misunderstood him.
“I have to go back to the hospital tonight.”
“I know. I’m trying to find a solution.”
“No. You’re trying to find a place to put me where I won’t inconvenience her.”
Emma lowered her eyes. “I said I would move everything.”
But she still hadn’t moved a single thing.
Ryan stood beside the couch, waiting for me to agree.
I went upstairs and collected clean clothes, my toothbrush, and my phone charger. The blue dress was gone from the bed. Everything else was still there.
Ryan followed me.
“You don’t need to leave.”
I waited for him to tell Emma to clear our bedroom.
He watched me put my charger in my bag.
“Where are you going?”
“Somewhere I can sleep.”
I carried my things outside and sat in my car. My eyes burned, and my hands felt too heavy to hold the steering wheel safely.
I called my sister.
“Leah, can you pick me up?”
“What happened?”
“I’ll explain when you get here. I’m too tired to drive.”
“I’m leaving now.”
I lowered my seat and closed my eyes.
Ryan didn’t come outside.
A minute later, my phone lit up.
You didn’t have to drag Leah into this.
He hadn’t objected when Emma took over our bedroom.
He only objected when someone else might find out.