Chapter 3

3: 3

The thought broke off as the door opened from outside. Eileen came in, eyes red-rimmed, tears she hadn't quite wiped away still on her face.

She walked slowly up to me and picked up the concealer as if nothing had happened, meaning to cover the shadows under my eyes. I turned my head away.

"Don't act like everything's fine. I can't."

She set the concealer palette down gently and took my hand.

"Yvonne, I'm sorry. But today is your wedding. You should walk out beautiful, the way we used to dream about when we were little."

For a second Eileen standing there blurred into the girl she'd been. We'd grown up together. We'd even promised we would get married together.

We said that on our wedding day we'd do each other's makeup, and make each other more beautiful than any goddess.

I let out a small laugh. I could almost still see two little girls playing with makeup brushes,

She turned me into a red-bottomed baboon, and I turned her into a thick-lipped, pointy-mouthed goldfish.

Then we collapsed onto the couch, laughing and shoving each other, not stopping.

That happiness back then was real. This betrayal now is real too.

I smiled at myself. "When we were kids we promised we'd never fall for each other's boyfriends. Did you keep that promise?"

Her fire went out in an instant. She had nothing to say.

"When did it start?"

Eileen shook her head, mouth pressed shut. "I don't want to say it. I don't want to hurt you, Yvonne."

I screamed at her. "What could hurt more than my best friend sleeping with my husband?"

As I said it, the tears spilled over again.

"I knew Gerard was hiding something from me, so I gave him one chance. And even you would betray me."

Eileen reflexively pulled a tissue from her purse and reached up to wipe the tears from the corner of my eye.

There was a piece of candy hidden in her palm, and she pushed it into my mouth. "Remember how we used to say something sweet fixes anything sad?"

I held the candy in my mouth. It was so bitter. I turned my head and spat it into the trash.

The next second Gerard barged in, a wet patch spreading across the collar of his shirt. I didn't want to think about how it got there.

He tugged at the tie I'd knotted crooked and off-center, his voice going a few degrees colder. "Eileen already gave up the wedding for you. What else do you have to complain about?"

Eileen took a few small steps to his side, undid the tie, and worked it into a Windsor knot. The ease of it made my eyes sting.

I choked for a few seconds. "I'm only asking when the two of you started."

Gerard put his arm around Eileen's shoulders and looked straight at me. There was guilt in his eyes, but more than that, the regret of not being able to give Eileen her wedding.

"The night you were away on business, you had me go pick up Eileen from the bar because she was drunk."

"That's when the baby was conceived."

I curled my fingers. My fingertips were cold to the bone.

Eileen had been cheated on by her ex around that time and had gone drinking at a bar. I wasn't there, so all I could do was call Gerard to go bring her home.

No wonder the two of them had gotten so close during that stretch. No wonder links for baby and infant products had started showing up on Gerard's phone.

At first I only thought Gerard had done something to wrong me, that maybe he had someone on the side. It never crossed my mind it would be Eileen.

Good thing I'd covered both angles and left myself a way out.

This groom, Gerard, I don't want him anymore.