Page 14 of Little Empty Promises

“Not at all.Feel free to smoke outside.We can talk more when you’re finished.”

She huffed a disappointed sigh.“To answer your question, I don’t know when we last spoke to one another.”

“Was it days before she died?Months?Years?”

I knew the answer to the question.

I just wanted to hear what Claudette would say.

“It’s been years since we talked last.”

“Why so long?”I asked.

“It’s rather complicated.”

“I have time.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t like talking about it.”

“How about giving me a brief summary?”

There was a long pause.

Claudette looked at me.

I looked at her.

And I waited.

“All right, fine, if I must,” she said.“My sister married the man I loved.Is that brief enough for you?”

“It’s a start.How long ago?”

“It’s been many decades ago now.”

“I can’t imagine how hard it must have been on you.”

“Marlon was the man I thought I was going to go through life with, and then …”

She allowed the words to trail off, staring at me like she was finished discussing the matter, and then she had a change of heart.

“I introduced Marlon to Cordelia, and that was it,” she said.“Of course, the two of them spent their entire relationship apologizing to me.They said things like, ‘Oh, we didn’t expect it to happen.It just did,’ and ‘We never meant to hurt you.’They seemed to think all would be forgiven, that I’d wish them well and be fine with it.I was livid.I’mstilllivid.”

“Did you ever move on, date anyone else or get married?”

She twisted her lips into a wry grin.“Oh, I’ve had numerous flings over the years.But flings were all they were.There was a certain kind of passion with Marlon that I never found in anyone else, not that he felt the same.I suppose I convinced myself back then that he returned my feelings.It was foolish of me.I see that now.”

“When did you learn Marlon had passed away?”

“Cordelia reached out to me right before his funeral.It was the first time I’d heard from her in many years.I suppose she decided she’d apologized enough to me, and at some point, she just gave up.”

“When she contacted you, did the two of you speak?”

“She wrote me a letter.I’ll admit, I read it.I was curious to know what she had to say.I thought she’d be back to apologizing again, but instead she …”

“She?”I prompted, anxious for her to say more.

Claudette pulled a cigarette case and a lighter out of her handbag.“Forgive me.If I’m to continue, I need a moment.”

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