Page 54 of Little Empty Promises

“I’m … there is, yeah.I know it’s late.I thought about waiting until morning, but I knew I wouldn’t get any sleep tonight if I didn’t come over and talk to you.So here I am, okay?I mean, I hope it’s okay.Is it okay?”

I wasn’t sure what to make of everything he’d just said, so I kept it simple.“It’s all right.I know what it’s like when something is on your mind.If you’re like me, it’s better to deal with it sooner than later.”

He shoved his hands inside his pockets, kicking a few loose pieces of asphalt and nodding.“I came over to say … you know … to say I’m sorry about what happened earlier today.I’m sorry for the way I treated you.”

“Please don’t take this as me making assumptions, but did Kayla send you to talk to me tonight?”

“In a way.We had a long conversation, and she suggested I make things right.It was my decision to drive over.”

The coastal air sent a chill through me, and I pulled the blanket tighter around my shoulders.“Do you want to talk inside?”

He glanced up at the house.“I’d rather not.Can we just talk here?”

“We can … it’s just a bit cold out tonight.”

“I understand.I won’t keep you long.”

He went quiet again.

Maybe he’d said everything he’d come to say, but I suspected there was more, or he wouldn’t have still been standing there.

“Is there anything else you want to talk about?”I asked.

“I … yeah.Cordelia was my friend, and I don’t have many friends—not good ones.”

You don’t say.

“Did you spend much time with her?”I asked.

“Oh, I stopped in here and there after Marlon died, to see if she was doing all right and if she needed anything.”

“How did she seem when you saw her?”

“Sad, depressed, quiet.She made a comment once about not having anything left to live for, and it worried me.It’s the reason I started visiting more often.”

“Did you worry she might take her own life?”

“Nah.She was too savvy of a woman to do anything extreme like that, but some days I got the impression she was checked out, not listening to me when I was talking.I’m not suggesting she was rude.I think she had a lot on her mind.”

“Are you saying she had more on her mind than the loss of her husband?”

He considered the question.“I guess I am.She mentioned her sister to me once.She said she wrote her a letter, and her sister didn’t write back.With Marlon gone, it was even more important for her to mend their relationship.She didn’t believe her sister would have any interest in patching things up, though, and as far as I’m concerned, she was right.”

As unfeeling as Claudette seemed when we met, I wondered if she would have had a change of heart if there had been more time to consider it—time she’d never get back now.

“When you spoke to Kayla, did she tell you about the conversation we had earlier today?”I asked.

“She did, and now that she’s explained it to me and I have all the details, I want you to know that I have never laid a hand on my wife.”

And there it was, the main reason he’d driven over.To convince me of his innocence.

“I’m not sure what to think about the notes Cordelia took,” I said.

“Well, those people she was talking about … they weren’t us.I can’t imagine she’d spy on a friend.I don’t believe she would have done that to me.”

No one wanted to believe it, and yet, I didn’t get the impression that any of Cordelia’s neighbors knew therealCordelia—perhaps not even my mother.

“Kayla told me you two are going through a divorce,” I said.

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