His face drained of color, and he moved back as I had struck him.
“Give me five minutes, Katie,” he said hoarsely.
The woman’s voice shook when she spoke. “Katie? Our daughter has thesame name as this woman? Who is she, Ron?”
“I don’t need five minutes, Ron,” I interrupted. “I just need the truth.”
“How can you be alive?”
He closed his eyes briefly, then opened them. “Carla, take her inside.”
But Carla didn’t move right away. She just stared at me, then at her husband.
“Who is she?” she repeated.
“I’m the woman who buried your husband,” I said, holding her gaze. “And I’m so sorry you didn’t know the truth. I don’t know the truth either, it seems.”
After a long moment, Carla turned and carried the little girl into their apartment.
“Who is she?”
Ron stood there, staring at me like he was looking at a life he thought he had escaped.
For a second, neither of us moved.
“You have five minutes,” I said. “Tell me the truth. After that, you can go back to your new life.”
Ron stepped past me and followed me into the kitchen. He dragged a hand down his face.
“I didn’t know you lived here, Katie.”
“That’s clear.”
“Tell me the truth.”
Silence stretched between us.
“I didn’t die,” he said finally.
“I noticed, Ron. You look very alive.”
He swallowed. “I was in debt. More than I could fix. There were business loans, credit cards, and things I didn’t tell you about. I thought I could handle it.”
“And when you couldn’t?”
“I was in debt. More than I could fix.”
“I panicked, Katie. That’s all I can say.”
“So you let me bury you?”
“It wasn’t supposed to turn into a funeral,” he said quickly. “I just wanted to buy more time, but then things got complicated quickly.”
“To do what? Start over?”
“To survive,” he snapped, then immediately looked ashamed.
“So you let me bury you?”
I stepped closer. “Debt collectors called me for months, Ron. They came to the house. They froze accounts I didn’t even know existed. I had to explain to strangers why my husband was dead and still owed money. I lost the house trying to pay it all back.”
His shoulders sagged. “I thought you’d be safer without me.”
“Your mother stood in the hallway and wouldn’t even look at me. I signed hospital forms with shaking hands because you were ‘dead.’ I buried our daughter without you.”
He closed his eyes. “I know.”
“I buried our daughter without you.”
“And you didn’t think that it was worth coming back to make sure I was okay?”
