Page 163 of Aviatrix

“I’m sorry,” I apologize. “It’s been a long two weeks.”

“It has,” she agrees, crossing her ankles and leaning forward. “What’s going on with Lark?”

I hesitate. I don’t want to say it. Not because I’m scared, but because I’m ashamed. Ashamed I built a life with someone capable of that kind of betrayal.

But this is Mom. She won’t be mad at me. No, she’ll be furious with him.

“Lark was cheating on me,” I tell her. “With his secretary.”

Her face hardens. “For how long?”

I sip the coffee again, stall. “Three months.”

“When did you find out?”

I wince. I wish she’d stop with the interview tone. I’d rather just talk. Just feel this out loud.

“When the aliens leveled Langdon,” I say quietly. “I walked in on them.”

“Where is she now?”

“Dead,” I answer. “She died in the attack.”

Mom lets out a slow, heavy exhale layered with meaning.

She glances toward the mussed sheets, then back at me, hesitant. “And how long have you and Eli been…”

I glance at the door, willing someone—anyone—to barge in and save me. But the hallway stays quiet.

I know she isn’t asking because she thinks I cheated. She’s asking because she’s trying to gauge how serious this thing with Eli is.

“Sleeping with him? It happened two days ago,” I admit.

“How did—”

“Can we talk about this like mother and daughter?” I cut in. “Like… actually talk? Not make it feel so sterile?”

She pauses. “I’m not sure either of us have ever been very good at that.”

“Maybe we could try.”

“Okay.” She clears her throat. “Where should we start?”

Where to start? I don’t think there’s a good place. But I’ll try.

“It hurt,” I say softly. “It really hurt, catching Lark with his secretary. I… I felt abandoned. Again. Sort of like when Dad disappeared. Or when Eli left that first time. Lark, he was supposed to be the one who wouldn’t do that. The safe one. But he still did.”

She swallows hard. “I know that feeling well.”

“But then Eli showed up at Langdon. He got me through the attack. He blasted into that funeral and took down the ships trying to kill Lark and me. I think I might’ve been wrong about who I should trust. And who I shouldn’t.”

I think of Gary. Scooter. Thea.

I never should have trusted them.

“You’ve always been able to trust yourself,” she reminds me. “Your gut instinct has always led you where you needed to go.”

“I guess you’re right.”