“What do you mean?”
“At the birthday dinner, I remember asking whether you’d already given notice at the clinic. Seth jumped in before you could answer.”
I remembered.
“I thought he was being protective,” she said. “But now—”
She stopped.
We sat silently for a while.
Then I raised the question that had haunted me since the church hallway.
“When he said I wouldn’t have much choice after we got married, what did you think he meant?”
Heather’s face reddened.
“I didn’t like it.”
“But you didn’t say anything.”
“I asked whether you really wanted to do this.”
“And when he said yes?”
She looked away.
“I wanted to believe him.”
“Because you’d already canceled daycare.”
“Yes.”
Her answer hurt, but at least it was truthful.
“I heard him laugh,” Heather said. “I knew that was a horrible thing to say. I told myself he was making a stupid joke.”
