Chapter 4
By Saturday afternoon, Ryan still hadn’t mentioned when Emma was moving out.
He had promised we would discuss it after the barbecue. Until then, I was trying to get through the afternoon.
I went outside to cut rosemary for the potatoes.
The pot Leah had given us when we bought the house was behind the trash bins.
“Better for pictures,” Emma explained when I carried it back. She was fastening white lights to the fence.
Ryan looked up from the grill. “She was only trying to make the yard look nice.”
I put the rosemary back beside the kitchen door.
The doorbell rang.
Emma reached it first.
“Megan! Come in.”
Megan handed her a bottle of wine. “Thanks for having us.”
“Of course. Drinks are outside.”
As the others arrived, Emma accepted their food and showed them through the house.
“The place looks amazing,” one woman said.
“Thank you.” Emma touched the vase on the dining table. “We moved a few things around. It feels much more open now.”
Ryan stood close enough to hear.
He didn’t correct the word we.
“Claire,” he called, “where are the vegetarian burgers?”
“Second shelf of the refrigerator.”
He smiled at the guests. “She always knows where everything is.”
Everyone laughed as if it were a compliment.
I went inside for the burgers.
When I returned, Emma was explaining how she had cleared the entryway for her videos. No one asked what had been there before.
Later, she held up her phone.
“We need a picture before it gets dark.”
Everyone gathered near the grill. Ryan stood in the center, and Emma moved beside him.
Then she handed me the phone.
“Claire, can you take it? You’re better at getting everyone in the frame.”
Through the screen, I saw my husband, our friends, and Emma beneath the lights she had hung on my fence.
“Move in a little,” I said.
Emma leaned closer to Ryan.
I took the picture.
“Perfect.” She checked it and smiled.
“Wait,” Megan said. “We need one with Claire.”
But Ryan had already turned away, and the group was breaking apart.
I returned the phone.
A few minutes later, Ryan nodded toward the used plates.
“Can you start taking those inside?”
I looked at my own untouched food.
“You can do it.”
He blinked.
I sat down and ate the rosemary potatoes I had made. The used plates stayed where they were.
Near sunset, Megan helped me carry the unopened drinks into the garage.
She stopped beside the cardboard box against the wall.
My hospital jacket lay on top of my work shoes and travel mug. The masking-tape label was still attached.
CLAIRE—WORK STUFF
Megan looked from the box to me.
“Are you taking the rest of your things today?”
“Taking them where?”
“I thought you were staying with Leah.”
“I stayed there because I came home from work and had nowhere to sleep.”
Her eyebrows drew together.
“That isn’t what Ryan said.”
“What did he say?”
Megan glanced back toward the yard.
“He said you two were trying a separation.”