She sniffed.
“So you’ll never forgive me?”
I thought about it.
“Forgiveness isn’t the same as pretending nothing happened. I don’t hate you, Vanessa. I don’t want anything bad to happen to you. But I don’t want a friendship with you, and I won’t allow you to interfere with my marriage again.”
She said nothing for a long time.
Then the line went dead.
I put down my phone.
Irvin appeared in the doorway.
“Was that Vanessa?”
“Yes.”
“Everything all right?”
I nodded.
“She’s hurting.”
He looked at me carefully.
“And how are you?”
The question nearly brought tears to my eyes.
Not because I was sad.
Because he had asked about me, even after months of dealing with somebody else’s behavior.
“I’m all right,” I told him.
He pulled me into his arms.
“You know you never had to fight for me, don’t you?”
I rested my head against his chest.
