“Because it didn’t stand out to me. It was a big dinner. There were lots of people there. And in between that and London and Rome and all the junkets, I didn’t remember everything to tell you.”
“She was hitting on you.”
“No. Not really, no. Maybe. I don’t know. It doesn’t matter. I didn’t do anything wrong, Cile.”
“You knew she was my good friend. She was my one real friend here, and you didn’t think to mention it?”
“I thought you had a falling-out. I thought that’s why she didn’t come to the Hammer. And you never talked about it, so I thought it was a bad subject. I didn’t want to bring her up.”
I’m quiet for a second, taking him in. He seems small to me, shrunken on the low-profile sofa. His jaw covered with stubble, his hair uncombed. Barefoot and sweatpants. The man with the number-one movie in the world for three weeks and counting.
“You were flirting with her in public,in Paris, and you didn’t think it would get back to me?”
“I wasn’tflirtingwith her, Cile.”
“Don’t lie to me, Fran. Please don’t lie to me.”
“I wouldn’t lie to you. Nothing happened. She was at dinner. And then a bunch of us went back to the apartment for a drink after, and she came with us.”
“To theapartment?Our apartment?”
“Yes. But it was, like, a big group. I couldn’t disinvite her. I couldn’t tell Gloria to leave her behind.”
“Youinvited her to our apartment?”
“I didn’tinvite her. She just came with the group. It was a lot of people. I wouldn’t lie to you, Cile.”
“Like you wouldn’t lie about Élodie??”
He cocks his head then, his expression perplexed, exasperated. Trying to discern where exactly the conversation turned. How we ended up here. Again.
“I told you the truth about Élodie.”
“You only waited fifteen months.”
He sighs, sinking farther into the couch.
“Why did you tell me at all, Fran? You knew how much it would hurt me. Why would you tell me at all?”
The question goes unanswered as he reaches to rub the bridge of his nose. His telltale sign of stress.
“You didn’t love her,” I say.
“No.”
“So if you weren’t in love with her, if you had no real intention of walking away from me and the kids, then why did you feel the need to tell me? Other than to relieve yourself of the guilt?”
“Because I was afraid you’d find out from someone else.”
When I don’t respond, he adds, “I didn’t want to hurt you, Cile.”
“You didn’t want to hurt me? You didn’t want tohurt me?? Maybeyou should have thought about that before you stuck your dick in your fucking ingenue.”
“Putain.”
“Maybe you should have thought about how it might blow up your entire family.”
“Okay,” he says. “Okay.”
