Page 9 of All the Beautiful Things
“I know you can,” she said. “I know you can and you will and it’ll be hard because I don’t know what happened but that look on your face tells me it’s heavy. And I know you’ve had a lot of heavy to hold in your life which means I know you can do this, too. You’ve got this.”
I imagined myself walking into Valor on Monday, getting on the elevator… having to sit ten feet from Brandon and possibly run into Hudson and all the hope Judith suffused me popped like a lead balloon.
“Are you sure?” I asked, and hated the way I sounded so innocent, so childlike.
“I’m sure.” She reached out then and covered my hand with hers. Hers were warm, cracked, and dry and caked with flour dough, but strong and firm. I flipped my hand beneath hers over and squeezed her back.
Her warm touch shot straight through all the ravaged parts of me and warmed me to the tips of my toes.
“Thank you.”
Judith squeezed my hand before letting go. “You never have to thank someone for speaking the truth. It is what it is.”
There was a lot I had to thank her for, but she grabbed the silverware bin and started loading it with the mess she’d made from the napkins earlier.
I slid off the stool. A bus wouldn’t be at the stop for a while yet, but maybe the fresh air would help me think.
Could I seriously walk back into Valor Holdings on Monday with my head held high?
I had no idea. But I had three days to figure it out.
I had just reached the door to leave when Judith called my name, barking it out like a command. I twisted and looked at her over my shoulder.
“Yes?”
“I don’t want to see you in here again unless it’s for pie and only pie, you understand?”
I did. I knew exactly what she was saying. I gave her a smile, it was wonky and shaky, but at least I attempted it. “Happy Thanksgiving, Judith.”
She nodded and I took that as my cue to get moving.
The door squawked behind me and I pulled out my phone.
There was no way I was ready to go back to my apartment.
And I couldn’t go to David’s.
Some day and someday soon I would need answers from him, but it wasn’t going to be today.
So I turned the corner around Judith’s front door, found an alcove where I could be blocked from the wind, and I called Angie.
3
Lilly
Angie yanked me across the small console of her Toyota sedan and wrapped me in a hug before I could set down my purse.
“I’m so glad you called me,” she whispered into my hair. “Are you okay?”
Her hug was a warm blanket I shivered beneath. Despite all her kindness, accepting it was difficult. Calling her and asking for help was even harder, but there was no way I was going back to my apartment.
To Hudson.
To a home now littered with his deceit while my mind spun with all the other ways they lied to me.
I hadn’t told her much on the phone, only apologized for calling on Thanksgiving. I’d barely gotten out the first burst effort of speaking through my ragged and scratched throat before she said, “I’ll be there in ten.”
Now, her older car was warm, her hug was firm, and I was safe.
