Everett stepped forward.
“Mom, please. Stop talking.”
But Beatrice was already reaching for her phone.
“I have a picture of them together. Here, I’ll show you.”
“Mom, don’t!” Everett snapped.
It was too late.
Beatrice turned the screen toward me.
“Nina?”
I recognized her immediately.
I’d seen Nina in Everett’s old photographs. She was his childhood friend, someone he’d briefly dated before we met. He’d always described her as part of his past.
Now she was standing beside him, his arm around her waist, displaying a diamond engagement ring.
Beatrice smiled uncertainly.
“They’ve known each other since they were children.”
I turned toward Everett.
“That wasn’t a work conference, was it?”
“Rosalie, things are complicated.”
“What’s complicated about spending a weekend with another woman?”
He looked at his mother.
“Mom, could you please give us some privacy?”
Beatrice didn’t move.
