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“We can talk about this when it’s not seder,” Miriam hissed.
“You lied,” Noelle said, planting her feet and ignoring her girlfriend. “To all of us. How long have you been married? Why would you hide this from us? We spent four years changing everything in our whole lives, walking on eggshells, holding you while you cried so that you could get over this asshole and move on, but you were never going to get over him! You were married the whole time!”
Levi moved to stand between them, but Hannah put a hand on his arm, shaking her head.
“I am sorry I made our lives about my grief and that I took up so much space needing you,” she said to Noelle. “I’m happy to unpack that with you later, when we’re not surrounded by every one of my relatives.” She gestured around the room.
Noelle was rooted and didn’t budge. “That’s not what I’m angry about, Hannah. We show up for each other. You shut us all out. Andyou!” She rounded on Levi. “You stay out of this.”
This felt kind of unfair since he hadn’t actually said anything to her. Yet.
“Maybe,” Levi suggested, “it’syouwho should stay out ofmymarriage.”
Mrs. Matthews stood up. “This is our seder,” she said, steel in her voice. “This is not an appropriate conversation to have right now. Hannah and Levi shouldn’t have started having it.”
They both looked down at their shoes.
Noelle almost looked abashed, but she squared her jaw. “These two”—she gestured to Hannah and Levi—“were married this whole time,in secret.”
Miriam took Noelle by the elbow and led her out. “Let’s get out of here before you say something you have to make amends for later.”
Levi looked over at his mom, about to apologize, but she waved it away. “Please. We know. It’s a very small town. People at city hall talk, especially to Cass.”
They knew. Fuck. Cass had known. He stumbled backward. Cass had known, and she’d still told him in no uncertain terms that he should leave and never come back.
Fuck, he hated that woman, dead or not.
Chapter 4
Hannah
That was not the warm and welcoming family seder Hannah had envisioned. Currently, she was hiding in her office until all her relatives went to bed, because she didn’t want to talk to her parents, or his parents, or any of her aunts. Once the hallway quieted down, she snuck through the dark out the side door and across to the carriage house, where Noelle and Miriam lived. Noelle had rehabbed it into a living space and studio so that Miriam could make art at Carrigan’s full-time.
Kringle was sitting in front of the door, a giant guardian. His ear tufts swiveled toward Hannah as she tiptoed up, and he yawned.
“Am I allowed to knock?” she asked him. He chirped at her, sounding scolding.
“Why do I even let you live here?” Hannah grumbled, although she suspected it was the opposite—that Kringle let all of them live here.
She knocked anyway, in spite of his continued squawking. Noelle opened the door, looked at her, and slammed the door again. Hannah knocked again.
This time, it was Miriam who opened the door. She was ready for bed, her hair wrapped in a T-shirt on top of her head, one of Noelle’s flannels worn as a nightdress. She cocked an eyebrow at her cousin.
“Are you here to apologize?” Miriam asked, looking back over her shoulder at Noelle. “I’m not sure she’s ready to hear it.”
“I have absolutely no intention of apologizing, now or later. No one, not either of you, or anyone else, has a right to information about my relationship that I don’t want people to have. I would love to have aconversationwith my best friend, because I’ve had a difficult night, but I can tell I’m not welcome.”
“You lied to me! Your best friend!” Noelle said from somewhere behind Miriam. “You didn’t trust me with this huge information?”
“She didn’t tell me, either!” Miriam pointed out, yelling over her shoulder. “No one tells me anything!”
Hannah sighed deeply, scrubbing her hands over her face. “I didn’t know where we stood, or if I would ever see Levi again, and I didn’t feel like I wanted to talk to anyone about that.”
She heard Noelle blow out a breath. “You said we couldn’t run this farm with secrets, Hannah. How could you hide this from me? No matter how much he fucks up, and no matter how much we show up to clean up his mess, you’re always going to choose him.”
“I’m not choosing him!” Hannah said, aghast.
“So you’re getting a divorce?” Noelle asked.
