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With each step across the parking lot she felt lighter; not in body but in soul. The weight of Wilder, his cruelty, his relentless campaign of negging and fat-shaming, was no longer inside her. As she walked, she even pressed her palm against her middle, feeling for the hot brick that had sat there forever.
It was gone.
Corbin leaped out and opened the door for her, and she accepted her seat with a nod. He searched her face, but she didn’t feel ready to look at him right now.
He touched the back of her hand, more lightly than he had earlier on that panicked trip to the park. “Melanie, I am so, so sorry. I lost my temper. I will apologize to him as well, if you wish.”
Back inside the park she had been furious with Corbin, as anyone would with a man who used his fists in the heat of the moment. But now it didn’t seem that important. More disturbing was the fact that Corbin’s eyes were dark-rimmed and reddened, and she wondered with dread whether he had been crying as he sat there alone.
No, that didn’t make any sense.
She felt tired, very much so, and slumped in her seat. If Wilder was still slithering around out there, she didn’t want to know. She shook her head vehemently. “Just take me home. Please.”
He pulled out of the lot and got onto the road, finding the quickest route to the highway. It wasn’t a pleasant trip back; but it wasn’t filled with anger, either. There was only a dense, murky silence in which each of them marinated in their own thoughts.
As they left the down ramp that led from the highway to Villeneuve, she thought of something. She took her phone from her purse and began tapping on it.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Nothing.” She looked down at the diet app that was open on her screen. Are you sure you want to delete? the warning asked. All data will be lost.
She clicked on Yes.
