“I wanted to give you this incredible reunion.”
“I imagined opening the door and there she would be.”
I stared at him.
“Why would I need it to be perfect?”
“I needed it to be true.”
“Messy, frightening, confusing—but true.”
“I would have wanted it six weeks ago.”
He had no answer.
“And while you were organizing your perfect surprise, I was lying awake believing you were sleeping with someone else.”
Amelia’s eyes widened.
“Oh.”
She turned toward Robert.
“You told me she didn’t suspect anything.”
“I didn’t think she did!”
Despite myself, I laughed.
Just once.
Not because anything was particularly funny.
Because the situation was so completely absurd that something inside me finally broke loose.
Robert sighed.
“That sounded worse when I said it.”
“Everything about this has gone worse than you intended.”
For several moments, all three of us stood silently.
Then Amelia said,
