“I know.”
“I stood beside that lake while divers searched the water.”
“I know.”
“How could you do that to me?”
“I didn’t know how to come back!”
Her voice broke.
“I was angry for one day. Then I was scared. Then everyone was looking for me, and Kendra told me police were involved, and I thought I’d be arrested. I told Dean and Corinne you were dead, and then I had to keep lying to them too.”
She sat on the stairs, sobbing.
“Every day I waited too long. And the next day it was worse.”
I moved closer.
“Did you want to come home?”
She looked up at me.
“Every single day.”
That answer didn’t erase anything.
It didn’t undo the searches or the sleepless nights.
It didn’t restore our trust.
But she was alive.
My child was alive.
I reached the bottom step.
