Claire. My sister.
She stood there, eating an ice cream like nothing happens in the world.
“What the hell are you talking about?” I asked
“I wrote it. Duh.”
“You… what?”
“I wrote it. You’re too chicken to deal with this baby, so I figured I’d help you out. If Emily thinks that you che:ated, she’ll leave. Problem solved.”
“You really think you helped me?” I hissed.
“That was venting, Claire! It was normal stress! That didn’t mean I wanted out! And… am I not supposed to talk to my sister about these things? I should have known better.”
“Well, how was I supposed to know that?” she shot back. “You should’ve been clearer.”
I pointed to the car.
“You just ruined my marriage. You just burned my marriage to the ground, Claire! And for what? What did you get out of this?”
“You’re being dramatic. Emily’s overreacting. It’s just a little lie.”
A little lie?
“You’re going to fix this.”
Claire scoffed.
“Oh, yeah? And how do you suppose I do that?”
Emily opened the door.
“What’s going on?” Emily asked, arms crossed.
“Tell her,” I turned to my sister. “Now.”.
“Tell her.”
“You owe me an apology, Claire,” she said.
“This was despicable behavior. I can’t believe that you’d do something as horrible as this. If it was such a big deal, and you were genuinely worried about Henry, why didn’t you just come to me? You could have told me what he said and that you thought he wanted out.”
Claire shifted, clearly uncomfortable.
“I’m… I’m sorry, Emily. And Henry, I was wrong. I didn’t think it would go this far. I just thought that you two would be forced to have a conversation and that he would tell you the truth.”
“But that isn’t the truth,” Emily said. “It was just your assumption.”
Over the next few weeks, Emily and I solved everything. It wasn’t easy breaking through the doubt that had crept in, but we did it.
