The lightning flashes one last time when she reaches the top of the stairs, and the glow on her face makes her look like she’s standing at the gates of hell.
“Do…” My lips feel numb, it’s almost hard to form the words. “Do you need help packing?”
There’s such venom in her eyes, I’m afraid she’s going to reach into my chest and yank my heart out with her bare hands. “Do I need help packing? No, I believe I can manage.”
Nina goes into her bedroom, slamming the door behind her. I am not sure what to do. I could go up to the attic, but then I look downstairs where Andrew is still in the living room. He’s looking up at me, so I descend the stairs to talk to him.
“I’m so sorry!” My words come out in a rush. “I didn’t mean to…”
“Don’t you dare blame yourself,” he says. “This was a long time coming.”
I glance at the window, which is drenched with rain. “Do you want me to… go?”
“No,” he says. “I want you to stay.”
He touches my arm and a tingle goes through me. All I can think is that I want him to kiss me, but he can’t do it right now. Not with Nina right upstairs.
But soon she’ll be gone.
About ten minutes later, Nina comes down the stairs, struggling with a bag on each shoulder. Yesterday, she would have made me carry those and laughed at how weak I was. Now she has to do it herself. When I look up at her, her eyes are puffy and her hair is disheveled. She looks terrible. I don’t think I realized exactly how old she was until this moment.
“Please don’t do this, Andy,” she begs him. “Please.”
A muscle twitches in his jaw. The thunder cracks again, but it’s softer than it was before. The storm is moving away. “I’ll help you put your bags in the car.”
She chokes back a sob. “Don’t bother.”
She trudges over to the door to the garage that’s just off the side of the living room, struggling with her heavy bags. Andrew tries to reach out to help her, but she shrugs him away. She fumbles to get the door open to the garage. Instead of putting her bags down, she’s trying to juggle them both and get the door open. It takes her several minutes, and I finally can’t stand it anymore. I sprint over to the door, and before she can stop me, I turn the knob and throw it open for her.
“Gee,” she says. “Thanks so much.”
I don’t know how to respond. I just stand there as she pushes past me with her bags. Just before she goes through the door, she leans in close to me—so close that I can feel her hot breath on my neck.
“I will never forget this, Millie,” she hisses in my ear.
My heart flutters in my chest. Her words echo in my ears as she tosses her bags into the back of her white Lexus, and then zooms out of the garage.
She left the garage door open. I can see the rain pouring down onto the driveway as a gust of wind whips me in the face. I stand there for a moment, watching Nina’s car disappear into the distance. I nearly jump when an arm encircles my shoulders.
Of course, it’s just Andrew.
“Are you okay?” he asks me.
He’s so wonderful. After that miserable scene, he’s considerate enough to ask me how I’m doing. “I’m okay. How about you?”
He sighs. “That could’ve gone better. But it had to be like that. I couldn’t keep living that way. I didn’t love her anymore.”
I look back out at the garage. “Is she going to be okay? Where is she going to stay?”
He waves a hand. “She’s got a credit card. She’ll just get a hotel room. Don’t worry about Nina.”
Except I am worried about Nina. I’m very worried about Nina. But not in the way he thinks.
He lets go of my shoulders to hit the button to close the garage door. He grabs my hand to pull me away, but I keep watching the garage door until it closes completely, certain Nina’s car will reappear at the last moment.
“Come on, Millie.” There’s a glint in Andrew’s eyes. “I’ve been waiting to get you alone.”
Despite everything, I smile. “You have?”
“You have no idea…”
He pulls me in for a kiss, and as I melt against him, the thunder cracks once again. I imagine I can still hear Nina’s car engine in the distance. But that’s impossible. She’s gone.
For good.
THIRTY-FOUR
I wake up the next morning in the guest bedroom, with Andrew asleep beside me.
After Nina left last night, this is where we ended up. I didn’t want to sleep in his bed, where Nina had been sleeping just the night before. And my cot upstairs was not very comfortable for two bodies. So this was the compromise.