The love of my life
a good husband doesn’t keep secrets from his wife
…
a good husband takes his time when deciding to tell his wife a secret, in case it will cause her more harm than peace
That’s a veryConnoranswer. He wasn’t lying to me. Oh, no. He was just waiting until the opportune moment to tell me…
But she’s here. And I can talk to her if I want?
talk?
I knew that would catch my husband’s attention.
Yes
let’s just say that maybe she asked Adrian to reach out to you, to see if you’d be willing to reconnect when you’re up to it
if you’re up to it…
Don’t be mad at Connor, Haven, I tell myself. He was just looking out for you, as always, and at least he’s being completely honest now.
I’m up to it
I think…
Connor’s next message is a phone number, followed by:
whenever you are, she’s ready to talk too
love you
come up to bed when you feel like it… I’ll be here, waiting for you, remembering my good friend des who deserved getting shot by my better friend, adrian
I snort. He’ll be up there, hoping I’ll pity-fuck him after all. Sorry, baby. Not tonight. Not when I need to work up the nerve to dial that number…
In the end, it takes two hours—well into the night—before I compromise. I can’t bring myself to talk out loud with Loni just yet, but with shaky fingers, I finally tap out three messages in quick succession:
Loni?
It’s Haven. Connor finally told me.
Hi
And then I toss the phone across the bed, covering my eyes, not sure if I want her to ignore the text—or if I really am up to talking to my former best friend for the first time in over ten years.
Turns out, I am. Because, despite the late hour, my phone buzzes almost instantly, an answering message from Loni coming through. Instead of ignoring it, I scrabble for the phone, taking a deep breath before I read it.
Then I do, and my eyes sting with tears even as my lips curve into a tiny grin.
LONI
I missed you
We’ve got to talk
Talk. Yeah. To someone who isn’t Connor.
