When they stopped speaking, he’d told me he’d chosen our relationship over her interference.
I’d loved him even more for it.
Now I wondered whether that story was another lie.
I called Beatrice.
She agreed to meet me at a coffee shop near her hotel.
When I arrived, she looked exhausted.
“I owe you an explanation,” she said.
“About Everett?”
She nodded.
“Years ago, when you two were getting serious, Everett told me he wasn’t sure he was ready for a permanent commitment.”
I frowned.
“He told you that?”
“Several times. He said he loved you, but he was frightened of settling down. Then, almost overnight, he announced you were planning a future together.”
I remembered that period.
Everett had been so determined. He’d promised we’d build a wonderful life.
“I told him he needed to be honest with you,” Beatrice continued. “That he shouldn’t make promises if he wasn’t prepared to keep them.”
