Page 18 of The Affair
Has she settled? Is it everything she hoped it would be?
Does she miss me?
Pulling out my phone, I nearly hung up before I finished dialing.
What if she didn’t want to talk to me?
Did I want to talk to her?
Maybe I should …
But after the second ring, the decision was made for me.
“Hello?” Her voice was familiar and warm.
“Hi,” I replied, uncertain where to go from there.
“How are you, Ellie?” I smiled faintly at the nickname. She was the only one who ever called me that.
“Good,” I answered. “I’m good. The store is good. Everything’s good.”
Jeez. That was a lot ofgoodsfor one breath.
“That’s … good.”
Silence followed, something that was foreign to our usual conversations.
“Um, how are you doing?” I finally said. “Are you settling in okay?”
“Yes,” she answered. “Although I do miss it there.”
My lips pursed together as anger and resentment began to creep up.
“So, anyway,” I said, “I had a question for you.”
“Sure. Anything.”
“I was going through some of the things in the guest bedroom and came across Nana’s journals from the other night.”
“Oh gosh, I guess we did leave that room in a bit of a mess, didn’t we?”
I wanted to point out that it was mostly her, but I let it go. “Yeah. But it’s fine. It’s my mess to deal with now. But the reason I’m calling is, I wanted to ask you about some of the journal entries. Grandma mentions a William several times. Who is that?”
“Oh, that was her neighbor, I believe. She used to care for him. She’d bring him food, run errands for him, that sort of thing.”
I found myself nodding as she spoke. “That makes sense. She does mention bringing him pie and such—”
As I was speaking, I heard the doorbell ring.
“Oh, I gotta go, Mom. Someone is at the door.”
“Okay. Talk to you soon? Don’t be a stranger.”
“Sure, I won’t.”
But even as I was pressing End on my cell phone, I knew that was a lie. Something had changed, and I wasn’t the only one who felt it.
* * *
