"I know. I should have?—"
"You should have told us," Ravita says. "That's the thing. You should have said something. Anything. Instead you just kept lying. It’s been so long, Lena. You literally chose her over your friends."
"I wasn't choosing her over you. I was trying to?—"
"To hide her," Marnie finishes. "To hide her from your friends. Which means you were hiding yourself too, I guess."
I don't have a response to that.
Then Marnie’s shoulders relax. Her face softens. She leans back in her chair and she takes a breath and something shifts in the room.
"And honestly? I always thought they were kind of good. I just never said it because you and Ravita would have killed me." She smiles a little. "Their bass player is really good."
Ravita's eyes go wide.
"Okay, I admit we were really mean," Ravita says. “We shouldn’t have had those rules.”
"Not that mean," I offer.
"If you had felt safe, you would have told us." Marnie says.
Ravita stands up. She walks to the window. She stands there for a long moment, looking out at the street, and I can't tell if she's about to walk out or come back.
She comes back.
"I don't like that I was mean about them. I don't like that I spent months being dismissive of a band where my best friend's girlfriend plays bass. That's—that's really embarrassing, actually." She sits back down. "But I also don't like being lied to. And I don't like finding out that you've been seeing me every single day at work and lying through your teeth about what you were doing with your evenings."
"I know."
"You don't have to keep saying you know."
"Okay."
Marnie reaches across the table and takes my hand.
"We're upset you didn't tell us," she says. "We care that you felt like you couldn't tell us."
"Yeah.” Ravita says quietly. "I care that you felt like you couldn’t tell me. That hurt more than the lying."
"I'm very sorry," I say.
"I know," Ravita says. "And I believe you."
"I know."
"I still love you," she says. "But I'm so angry. And I need time to work through the anger."
"Yeah. Of course."
Marnie doesn't release my hand. She asks the barista for more coffee. She orders a slice of cake and asks me what I want. I say nothing. She orders cake for me too.
By the time we’re ready to leave, Ravita’s hugs me at the door. And I don’t let them go home.
“There’s one more thing,” I say. “My sister is home and I want to introduce you to her.”
“Really?” Ravita’s eyes widen and she forgot she’s mad at me. “I would love to meet your sister.”
“Oh my gosh, yay! Finally!” Marnie jumps up and down.
