CHAPTER NINETEEN
WREN
His silence says it all.
Finally, he speaks. “What was I supposed to do, Wren?”
She’s shaking her head. “I thought we were friends, even then.”
“Admit it,” I push. “As soon as you hooked up with David you started to push me out of your life, you and everyone else.”
There’s a heaviness behind my eyes, more tears welling. “That’s not true and you know it, but you knew, Carter. You knew and you did nothing. Are you even going to apologize?”
He turns away with his hand up.
“Don’t you turn away from me!” I scream.
When he turns back, I see the hurt and hate and everything boiling behind his features. “Maybe it was your own stupid fucking fault for marrying him in the first place.”
It’s too much. My emotions have got the better of me.
I pick up my cell, tossing it into my handbag. “I’m leaving.”
“Great.”
I walk to the front doors and he doesn’t follow. I don’t care. I just want to get as far away from him as possible.
I walk fast down the sidewalk, removing my cell from my handbag. I hold it with one hand, wiping away tears with the other.
“Hello?” comes the voice.
“June…”
She immediately senses something is wrong. “Wren, what happened?”
“I need your help,” I tell her, choking back tears, trying to prevent myself from falling to the ground and waiting until the coming winter covers me completely.
I swallow before speaking again. “I’m ready to come home.”
*
I wait in an empty lounge at Vancouver International for my flight.
June was happy to pay for my ticket. I insisted I’d pay her back, but she wouldn’t hear of it.
I try to compose myself. I’ve been staring at the blank screen of my cell for what feels like hours now.
Carter hasn’t called. He hasn’t texted.
Whatever we had is over.
I think about the three of us—David, Carter and I. We were inseparable. We had our own cliques at school, but once that bell rang we were out the door and looking for mischief. Our parents didn’t care we were out all hours, even where we ended up. We had money to burn and the time to do it.
God, we had some adventures. Maybe that’s why Carter went off the rails, trying to replicate that free-spirited fun we used to have, to make up for…
Don’t say it.
…Losing me.
Those poor kids were brought up to be competitive, taught to win at all costs. How would it have felt? What must have he been going through inside when David announced we were getting married?
I don’t know what to make of it. I can’t even comprehend what was going through his head after the accident, and where was I? Where was my support? I was too busy in New York socializing and trying to play the perfect wife to give a damn.
All this time Carter had feelings for me. Was I really that blind?
Stupid, perhaps, but definitely not blind.
Thanks, brain.
“Flight UC393 to New York is now boarding.”
I’m about to switch off my cell when the screen lights up.
I check the incoming call. It’s Natalie, my boss.
Compose yourself.
I straighten my top, wipe my face, even though we’re not Facetiming.
“Natalie,” I answer, “how are you?”
Typically Natalie’s pretty cordial. You have to be in her position, but her reply is far from it today. “I’m sorry to be calling like this,” she says, her usual effervescence gone. “But we need to talk”.
“About the birds and bees? The falling rate of oil?” I joke.
No laughter echoes down the line.
“Star Bright is a charity built on public perception. I’m sure you know that.”
I don’t like where this is going. “Of course.”
“In fact, public perception is pretty much all we have.”
“Is there a problem with Star Bright’s image?” I query.
“Not directly.”
“I’m not sure I follow.”
A pause, a breath taken. “I’ll cut straight to it, Wren. We’ve been taking a bit of heat thanks to all this media exposure.”
“Media exposure?”
“This thing with David. It reflects badly on…” She doesn’t finish, but I can hear the ‘you.’
I haven’t been on social media for days, haven’t even accessed the internet. I was too busy getting off… in the most delicious, back-bending way. And it’s all gone. “I wasn’t aware, sorry.”
“The charges, Wren, the investigation, and now you’re with the brother-in-law, a convicted felon, and so soon after…” She trails off again.
I feel my defensive urges rising. “That’s my private life, Natalie. I don’t see what it has to do with Star Bright.”
She tries a different tact. “You know we all love you here. You’re great with the kids, our clients, but I’ve fielded too many calls not to take action.”
“Take action?”
“We’re going to have to let you go—for now.”
This I was not expecting. “You’re serious?”
A huff. “I’m afraid so. You’re welcome to come around and collect your things when you’re back in New York, take a day to tie up any pending leads and clients, and I’m sorry, I really am, but the pressure’s too much. My hands are tied.”
“But…” I’m desperately thinking of excuses, a way to claw myself back, because I love this job. It’s all I have, but I cannot think of anything. My mind’s turned into a soupy, shitty mess.
“Natalie, please.”
“I’m sorry,” she repeats. “Speak soon.”
She hangs up.
I leave the cell attached to my ear for the next five minutes, unable to move, unable to process whether that actually happened or not.
No home, no job... no Carter.
What do I have? What am I if I have nothing?