The woman folded her arms.
“That doesn’t make the lie any smaller.”
I forgot how to breathe.
A few minutes earlier, I had been sitting at a table overlooking the harbor, wondering whether David might ask to see me again after I returned home.
Now I was hidden in a doorway, listening to him admit that our meeting had never been as innocent as I believed.
“She leaves tomorrow,” David said.
“Exactly.”
“If I tell her now, she’ll think everything between us was planned.”
The woman stared at him.
“Wasn’t it?”
David said nothing.
His silence was enough.
I stepped into the courtyard.
“Planned?”
David turned sharply.
The color disappeared from his face.
“Eleanor.”
The woman closed her eyes.
For several seconds, none of us moved.
Then I looked directly at David.
“Who is she?”
He swallowed.
“My daughter. Clara.”
Clara gave me a small, uncomfortable smile.
“I’m sorry we had to meet like this.”
I barely heard her.
My chest felt too tight.
“What did you recognize me from?”
David moved toward me.
I immediately stepped back.
“Don’t.”
He stopped.
Behind us, the restaurant continued as though my world had not just shifted.
Glasses clinked.
People laughed.
A waiter called toward the kitchen.
Five minutes earlier, this had been a romantic dinner.
Now I was standing across from a man who had approached me while already knowing who I was.
“Tell me the truth,” I said.
David looked at Clara.
She shook her head.
“I’m not helping you anymore, Dad. You need to tell her yourself.”
David suddenly looked much older than he had that morning.
Not seventy.
Ancient.
He drew in a slow breath.
“My wife knew your husband.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
