She touched one diamond earring.
“Then I left.”
I remembered our second date.
Sam had sat across from me, describing his divorce.
“Vanessa stopped loving me,” he’d said.
I’d reached across the table.
Held his hand.
Promised I would never abandon him.
Now I looked at Vanessa.
“He told me you walked away because you wanted someone better.”
Her eyes filled.
“He told everyone that.”
Patricia scoffed.
“Well, you did leave him.”
“After 11 years of being treated like an outsider.”
Vanessa turned back to Sam.
“When you called me six months ago, you said you’d changed.”
Sam said nothing.
“You said you’d finally learned to defend the woman you loved.”
I felt something inside me collapse.
Vanessa wiped her eyes.
“I believed you.”
Then she looked at me.
“And I was cruel tonight. I wanted you to feel like I’d won.”
She glanced at the ruined cakes.
