The Saye Hotels staff lunch was for the new managers. I sat at the end of the table like a decoration.
Then Everett walked in. The whole room got quiet, the way rooms always did for him.
Everett: Sit down, Elodie. We need to talk.
Elodie: I am sitting.
He sat so close our sleeves touched. After months of cold silence, my stupid body still noticed him.
Everett: You're moving out of the penthouse. Friday.
Somewhere down the table, a fork hit a plate. I heard my own voice go small.
Elodie: What did you just say?
Everett: The penthouse is not your home anymore. The movers are already booked.
Elodie: In front of everyone? You're doing this here?
Everett: There was never a good place for it. So I stopped looking for one.
Twenty people ate and pretended not to hear. That was worse than shouting.
Pity from strangers is such a cold thing.
Elodie: Everett, please. Just tell me why.
He leaned in close enough that I could smell his cologne. My heart jumped like a dog hearing a car it still loved.
Everett: You were in that house the night Willa died. I was not.
Everett: One of us got to walk away. Only one.
It hit me like a slap. My hands went flat on the cloth because the floor felt very far away.
Our daughter. He was using our daughter to throw me out of my home.
Elodie: Don't use her like that. You weren't there either.
Everett: I was working. You were her mother. That was your whole job.
I opened my mouth to beg. I know exactly how my begging sounds. Small and cheap.
Then I looked at his face. There was nothing there to bargain with anymore.
Whatever I had loved had already packed its things and left. Begging would only teach him the price of me.
So I did not beg. Not one word.
Elodie: I won't fight you for the penthouse. Send your movers.
Elodie: But I am still her mother. Nothing you say takes that from me.
My legs shook, but I stood. Twenty people watched me walk out of my own life with my head up.
He did not call me back. Not once.
In the hallway I let myself shake. Then I wiped my face and got very still.
He wanted me to beg. That was the one thing I could still refuse him.