Chapter 5
“He said we were separated?”
“Trying a separation,” Megan said. “Or taking space. I don’t remember his exact words.”
“We never agreed to either of those things.”
“He said you were living with Leah while you both figured out what you wanted.”
“I slept there because Emma was filming in my bedroom, her belongings covered the guest bed, and she needed the living room for another video.”
Megan stared at me.
“That was why you left?”
“That was the only reason.”
“He made it sound mutual.”
I walked out of the garage.
Several friends were still in the backyard gathering their things. Ryan was covering the grill. Emma stood beside him, showing him the group picture on her phone.
“Why did you tell our friends we were separated?” I asked.
Ryan looked up.
“I didn’t.”
“Megan says you told them we were trying a separation.”
“I said we were taking some space.”
“We never agreed to that.”
“You went to Leah’s.”
“For one night, because there was nowhere here for me to sleep.”
The people around us fell silent.
Ryan set down the grill cover. “Can we discuss this after everyone leaves?”
“You already discussed our marriage with them.”
“I had to explain why you weren’t staying here.”
“You could have told them the truth.”
“What was I supposed to say? That my wife walked out because someone used her bedroom for a few hours?”
“You could say your wife finished a twelve-hour shift and found that her bedroom, the guest room and the couch were all unavailable.”
Emma lowered her phone.
“I told you I would move the equipment.”
“After your video.”
“It was due that afternoon.”
“And I had to return to the hospital that night.”
Ryan stepped between us.
“This is exactly why I didn’t give everyone the details.”
I looked at him. “Tell them now.”
“What?”
“Tell them we never agreed to separate.”
His face tightened.
“Claire, this is nobody else’s business.”
“You made it their business when you told them I had left our marriage.”
“I never said you left the marriage.”
“You told them I was living somewhere else by choice.”
Megan remained near the garage door. The others avoided looking at me.
Emma put her phone on the table.
“I’ll go to a hotel,” she said quietly. “I don’t want to be the reason this gets worse.”
Her eyes were wet.
Ryan turned to her immediately. “You’re not the reason.”
“I can pack tonight.”
“You don’t need to.”
I waited until he looked at me again.
“You promised we would decide today when she was moving out.”
“Not like this.”
“Then give me a date.”
“She hasn’t found a suitable apartment.”
“She asked to stay for two weeks. It has been seven.”
Emma wiped beneath one eye.
“I said I’ll leave.”
“And I said you don’t have to,” Ryan replied.
He said it more firmly this time.
I felt something inside me become very still.
“I have never asked anyone to put her on the street,” I said. “I asked for an end date. You avoided the conversation, told our friends we were separating, and now you’re acting as if I caused this by finding out.”
“You are attacking her in front of everyone.”
“I am talking to my husband about a promise he made to me.”
“You could have waited until we were alone.”
“I asked you when we were alone. You postponed it until tonight.”
Emma turned toward the stairs leading up from the yard.
“I’ll get my things.”
She went inside. Through the open back door, I saw her reach for one of the boxes beside the staircase.
Ryan followed her.
For one hopeful second, I thought he was going to help her carry it.
Instead, he took the box out of her hands and put it back on the floor.
“You’re not going anywhere,” he told her.
Then he came back to the patio and looked at me.
“Claire, go back to Leah’s. Stay there until you can talk about this without attacking Emma.”