Chapter 15 - Julianne
A year later, Julianne asked to meet.
Diner.
Public.
Cheap coffee.
She looked older in a normal way.
No makeup.
That seemed intentional.
I disliked the intention.
Still, she came.
“I don’t expect forgiveness.”
“Good.”
She winced.
Fair.
She apologized for the affair, the blocking, the money.
Then said something I did not expect.
“I was jealous of Lily.”
I stared.
“Not like that.”
She looked ashamed.
“I hated how his face changed when he talked about her.”
“That wasn’t Lily’s fault.”
“I know.”
The waitress refilled coffee.
Neither of us touched it.
Julianne admitted she blocked me because every call made her afraid David would go home.
Then she slid a small shell bracelet across the table.
Lily had made it at summer camp.
David kept it in the yacht cabin.
One shell was cracked.
Lily would have called that extra beachy.
I stood.
Julianne asked, “Do you hate me?”
I thought.
“No.”
Julianne's coffee went cold while she talked.
At one point she reached for sugar, changed her mind, then poured it in anyway.
That tiny hesitation made her feel less like the villain I had practiced hating.
I resented that too.
People become easier to condemn when they stay flat.
Real people keep moving.
She looked surprised.
“I don’t want you inside my life enough to hate you.”
Outside, I cried beside my car over a cheap piece of string.
May you like
Grief has terrible taste in objects.
