The Night After He Left
Chapter 07 - The Night After He Left
Anna expected relief.
Instead, the silence frightened her.
After David left, Caroline left too.
Rachel stayed until midnight.
Then Anna was alone.
She walked through the house touching ordinary things.
The dining table where David celebrated promotions.
The hallway where they hung Christmas photographs.
The bedroom where he'd kissed her goodbye every morning.
How much had been real?
Anna didn't sleep.
At 3:17 a.m., she called Melissa.
She found the number online.
Melissa answered.
"Hello?"
Anna couldn't speak.
Then Melissa whispered:
"Anna?"
Fourteen years of friendship and seven years of silence collapsed into one word.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
Melissa cried.
"I tried."
"No, you didn't."
"David said you knew."
Anna closed her eyes.
The same lie he told Caroline.
"He told me you hated me."
"I did."
Melissa inhaled sharply.
"When I found out?"
Anna continued.
"I would've hated you."
"I know."
"But maybe I would've forgiven you eventually."
Melissa began sobbing.
"I was ashamed."
"So you let me think I wasn't worth an explanation."
Melissa had no answer.
Anna sat on the kitchen floor.
"Did you love him?"
"I thought I did."
"Did he love you?"
"No."
Melissa answered immediately.
That surprised Anna.
"How do you know?"
"Because David never loved anyone when love required him to tell the truth."
Anna stared into the dark kitchen.
Melissa continued.
"I think he loved being needed."
That sentence stayed with Anna.
David had always positioned himself as the solution.
To Anna.
To Caroline.
To Melissa.
To his father's company.
Even to Emily.
But whenever the truth threatened the image of him as the man everyone needed, he lied.
Anna asked one final question.
"Why did you leave?"
Melissa answered quietly.
May you like
"Because I became pregnant."
Anna stopped breathing.
