AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Oh my God. Why? What happened? Come with me.” I looped my arm with hers and led her to the office where we could have privacy.
I closed the office door behind us, gestured for her to take a seat on the small couch, then sat next to her and turned her way. There was a box of Kleenex on the side table and she grabbed a tissue, blotting at her nose.
“Do you want a cup of tea?” I asked gently. “My mother always said that tea wasn’t only good for the body, but for the soul.”
Her lips tipped up in a shaky smile but she shook her head. “No. It’s okay. I can’t stay very long, actually. I’m on my way to my sister’s. I’ll be staying with her until I can work out a plan.”
“Oh, I . . . see. Are you sure you can’t work things out with Aaron?”
She sniffled. “I’m sure. I lied to you at the picnic. Things have been bad for a while. And . . . I don’t know why I’m so ashamed about it, but Aaron he . . . well, he’s been aggressive . . . violent a couple of times.”
I stared at her, shocked and horrified. “Aaron?” Aaron had always seemed so calm, so . . . go with the flow. I just couldn’t picture him worked up into such a rage that he lashed out at his own wife. “My God, Paige, why didn’t you say anything? I would have helped. I had no idea.”
She nodded, her eyes downcast. “I know you would have done what you could. He made sure never to hit me in the face, so it was easy to cover up the bruises. I was just, God, I don’t know. At first I hoped it was just a one-time thing, you know? And then it happened again and I convinced myself I’d pushed him to it.” She shook her head. “I’m sorry to bother you about this—“
“Of course you’re not bothering me, that’s what friends are for. You were so helpful to me after Ethan died. Let me help you now.”
She nodded. “I just can’t do it anymore.” She worried her lip for a moment, her eyes moving to my neck and lingering there for a moment. “You took off the key,” she said. “Ethan’s key.”
Ethan’s key.
Out of habit, I reached for it, my hand fluttering away when I remembered I’d taken it off before my shower that morning Brant and I had returned from spending the night in the distillery. I’d gotten out of the shower and started to put it back on and then changed my mind. Standing there, wrapped in a towel in front of my dresser, I’d realized I didn’t need it anymore—didn’t require the reassurance it’d brought. It was as though I’d purged the pain and guilt I’d held on to regarding my feelings for Ethan to Brant in the quiet darkness of that abandoned building. And I no longer needed the symbol of confusion and remorse I’d once carried. And so I’d opened the top drawer of my dresser and put it away in a small cloth bag I kept there. “Yes,” I whispered. “I did.”
Paige nodded, taking my hand in hers and squeezing it, seeming to understand the reason why I’d done so without me saying it. “How did you move past it, Isabelle?” She shook her head, blanching slightly. “I mean, not that my situation is even remotely similar to yours. Please don’t think I’m saying that or that I’d ever dare compare what I’m going through to what you endured—”
“Paige, I don’t think that. We’re not comparing circumstances here.” Hadn’t Brant and I talked about the same thing? I moved my mind away from Brant immediately, not allowing my thoughts to wander to him yet again.
Paige nodded. “How did you go on, Isabelle? Because if I’m going to grieve the loss of a marriage…” Her voice broke and tears filled her eyes. “I don’t even know where to begin.”
I inhaled a deep breath and let it move slowly through me. “You don’t wake up one day and feel beyond the grief. It’s a process. In some ways, I’ll always be grieving, always finding strategies to cope. The pain will never be completely gone but it becomes less sharp over time.” Paige nodded, seeming resigned. “I hate that you’re going through this, Paige.”
She smiled sadly at me. “What I’m dealing with isn’t even comparable to what you endured, but your strength gives me courage. I’m so proud of you.”
She reached forward and hugged me and I hugged her back, laughing softly. “Hey, I’m proud of you too. I know you’re in the middle of this, but you will be okay. And you’ve taken the most important step. You got out of there.”
Paige swiped at her eyes, bringing the tissue to her nose and dabbing before offering a smile that looked hopeful. “I really should get going. But I felt I needed to tell you this in person, not over a text or a call. And I wanted you to hear it from me first.”
“I’m so glad you did. Please, Paige, call me if you need anything, okay?”
“I will. And I’ll probably need some girl time soon.”
“Sure. Call me and we’ll make plans. Anything you feel up to.”
“I will.”
I opened the office door, walking Paige back to the front door and giving her another hug goodbye. Then I watched her as she got in her red BMW and backed out of the driveway.
Closing the door behind me, I leaned against it for a moment, thinking about what Paige had told me, wondering if all this had stemmed from the money problems Paige had mentioned at the grill-out the month before. I remembered the unreadable expression that passed over her face as she looked at him that day, and I understood now. I never would have guessed she was going through something like this though. It was just so shocking.
I wondered if the company had been experiencing financial instability before Ethan was killed, or if the company began declining after that. Ethan and I had spoken so little about his career. Each time I’d asked, he’d seemed annoyed as if it wasn’t any of my business, and so after a while I’d ceased asking. If he wanted to talk about it, I figured, he would. And he never had . . .
Thinking about Ethan had me once again reaching for the key that had so recently hung around my neck. I sighed. There would be nothing there to grip between my fingers. I’d taken it off. And it was another step. A good one.
Still, I wondered what Ethan had been doing with a key to a storage unit that must have shut down more than ten years before? After Brant left Graystone Hill, I’d looked online and no businesses off Legendary Run had a logo that matched the one almost completely chipped off the key.
Another possibility occurred to me. What if it was a storage facility that was currently in business, but had changed its logo?
I pulled up the information on the four storage facilities on the list and picked up the phone on the desk, dialing the first one, Deering Storage. A young woman answered the phone.
