Chapter 2
Series 1 Chapter 2
I didn't sleep that night.
Not because I was angry.
Anger would have been easier.
I sat at the kitchen table with Thomas’s phone beside me, staring at the same name until the letters stopped looking familiar.
Lily Bennett.
The coffee I made at five in the morning went cold beside my hand.
A thin layer of cream had settled on the surface.
I watched it slowly disappear into the dark liquid beneath.
I didn't touch it.
When Thomas finally woke up, he looked like he had slept better than I had.
The notebook was still on the table.
So was the old photograph.
And his phone.
His eyes moved between them.
For a moment, he didn't say anything.
“You were awake all night?”
I looked at him.
“Were you?”
A small silence passed between us.
Not a fight.
Not yet.
Just the space between two people who suddenly realized they were standing on different sides of something.
Thomas pulled out the chair across from me.
The wooden legs made a quiet sound against the floor.
A sound I had heard every morning for twenty-two years.
“Evelyn, I can explain.”
“I know who she is.”
His expression changed slightly.
“You do?”
I nodded.
“David’s wife.”
The room became quiet.
Thomas looked down at his hands.
“Three years ago,” I said, “when David died, you told me you wanted to help them.”
His fingers moved slightly.
“You remember.”
“I remember everything.”
I remembered him coming home that night.
His coat was still on.
His briefcase was still sitting beside the door.
He had sat on the edge of our bed without taking off his shoes.
For once, Thomas Carter, the man who always knew what to do, had no answer.
David had been the first person who believed in him.
The person who stood beside him before anyone knew his name.
So when Thomas said he couldn't walk away from David’s family, I understood.
I told him to help.
I meant it.
“I never asked you to stop,” I said.
Thomas looked up.
“Then what is this about?”
I looked at him.
That question hurt more than I expected.
Because he truly didn't understand.
“I know helping her was the right thing.”
I picked up his phone and placed it beside the old photograph.
The promise he made twenty-two years ago.
The thing he never told me about.
“I'm asking why I didn't know.”
Thomas was quiet.
“Evelyn, I didn't want you to worry.”
I stared at him.
“You didn't want me to worry?”
“Or you didn't want me to question it?”
For a moment, he said nothing.
And that silence felt heavier than an argument.
I looked toward the notebook.
The page with our ocean house was still open.
The corner was slightly bent from how many times I had returned to it.
Thomas followed my eyes.
“It's not like that.”
I looked back at him.
“Then tell me what it is like.”
He didn't answer.
Later, after Thomas left for work, I transferred the files to my computer and opened the attachment that had come with the bank notification..
I told myself I was only looking for information.
A reason.
Something that would make this feel smaller.
The first page was the property details.
The second page was different.
My fingers rested on the mouse.
I hesitated.
Then I clicked.
Bennett Family Future Plan.