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“See? It’s starting already,” I said, shaking my head.
Thankfully, dinner was ready right about the time that things started to get heated, and by the time we were finished eating, Claire was too tired to finish the game.
I tried to stay out of the way as Lana helped Claire into bed. But as I was leaving the bathroom, I caught sight of her tending to her best friend through a crack in the door.
Silver Point was full of gossip, like every small town. I heard the older women whisper about how Lana wasn’t the type to ever settle down, get married, or have kids. I even heard one of them accuse her of not having the maternal instinct. But as I watched her with Claire, I knew that couldn’t have been further from the truth. Lana was fiercely loyal, and she was the type who would do literally anything for the people she loved. That trumped any maternal instinct they seemed to think she was missing.
I cleaned up the living room and kitchen until Lana came out a little while later. I could tell she was still upset because she went straight out to the front porch without saying a word to me. I grabbed two beers from the fridge and went out after her.
“I’ll leave you alone if you want,” I offered. “But I wanted to bring you this.”
“Thank you,” she said softly. She took the cold bottle from my hand and pressed it against her forehead. “You don’t have to leave me alone. You can sit down…If you want to.”
I gladly took the spot next to her on the steps and reached over to rub her back.
“I have to stay here tonight,” she said sternly.
“Yeah, of course. I assumed so.”
“I probably need to stay here every night from now on,” she added. “For as long as I’m in Silver Point. And I need your help to finish the marina. I can’t leave Claire alone anymore. I’ll put more money into it and pay for some extra help if you need…”
“Hey, don’t think about all of that right now,” I urged her. “One thing at a time. Of course, I’ll do whatever needs to be done. I don’t want you to worry about anything. You just do whatever Claire needs.”
She buried her face in her hand and groaned. “Yeah, well, I obviously can’t count on Chris for anything. I was stupid to think I could even for something so simple as telling me the truth. I called to ask him how Claire was doing.”
“I know you did. And if he had told the truth, I know you would have come home to her. This wasn’t your fault, Lana.”
“It was my fault for listening to him. For counting on his word. What kind of monster lies about something like that? What was the point?”
She broke down into tears. I pulled her against my shoulder and let her cry it out. After a while, she pulled back and wiped her eyes.
“Maybe this isn’t the best time for me to be involved with anyone,” she rasped.
“Come on, Lana. You’re upset. Don’t say stuff like that,” I begged her. “Things were just getting good between us. Just let me be here for you right now. Don’t worry about the rest of it.”
“I feel horrible. I should have never…”
“Lana, Claire is okay. Everything’s going to be alright,” I assured her. “I can stay here with you, if you want. Or whatever you need me to do. This doesn’t have to be the end of us.”
“It’s not your responsibility to worry about me and all of this,” she argued.
“Then whose responsibility is it? I’m in this with you, Lana. Through thick and thin.”
She stared at me intently. I was relieved to finally see a grateful smile sweep across her face.
“If only Chris could be as good of a guy as you are,” she groaned.
“Maybe he’ll get his act together one day,” I offered, which I didn’t think was true. But I had to say something in the guy’s defense, even if just to ease Lana’s mind for a bit.
But Lana scoffed with a bitter laugh. “I doubt it.”
“People respond to grief in different ways,” I explained. “That’s what Derek always says, and I trust him on the matter. He would know after losing Em’s mom. Maybe Chris is just having a hard time accepting everything that’s happened with Claire, so he’s trying to run from it and doesn’t want to face how much of a jerk he’s being in the process.”
“Yeah, I guess that makes sense if you think having an affair is a forgivable way for him to handle his grief.”
My eyes widened. “What?”
Her shoulders drooped with a sigh before she took a big swig of her beer. “I wasn’t going to tell anyone. I figured it was no one’s business but Claire’s. But…I don’t know what to do. I promised to tell her if…” She trailed off, shaking her head. “I saw him today with another woman. They kissed…among other things. I watched him walk into the hotel with her.”
