You Should Have Told Me by Leah Konen

Author:Leah Konen [Konen, Leah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2023-01-03T00:00:00+00:00

30

2:29 p.m.

Molly stood on the porch, one hand on her hip. “I told you I was coming over if you didn’t answer.”

I looked away only briefly. “Yes, you did.”

She walked in without waiting to be asked and made her way to the living room, then waved a hand dramatically in front of her face. “Oof, it smells awful in here.”

“Freya’s diaper,” I said.

“Should you change her, then?” Molly asked, gesturing in the direction of the swing.

“Not while she’s sleeping,” Liana said, sitting up straighter on the sofa, a hint of protectiveness in her voice. “You never wake a sleeping baby.”

Molly ignored Liana and turned to me, her voice quiet but firm. “Do you want me to help you pack? While the baby is down?”

“Molly,” I said, “I never said I was coming. I haven’t even had time to think about it.”

Molly’s eyes caught Liana’s, and Liana averted her gaze, staring at her feet.

“We don’t have to tell Ani why, you know. We can make something up. It’s fine.”

“It’s not that,” I said. “It’s not just that, at least.”

“So what’s your plan, then?” Molly asked. “You’re just going to stay here and wait for Max to show up? For the police to come after you next?”

Stay close, please. Don’t leave me yet.

I walked from the room, not wanting to risk waking Freya.

When we were in the kitchen, Molly stepped close, lowering her voice, taking advantage of this tiny bit of privacy. “Did Liana talk you out of it, is that it?”

“No,” I said. “I mean, yes, she thinks it’s best we stay where we are, but it’s not only that.”

“What is it, then?” Molly prodded. “What is here that’s so important? You need to focus on you, Janie, not him.”

Max, I thought. Max is out there, calling me from somewhere. Max asked me to stay.

And then there was the other thing, too.

Sutton’s voice on the line. Was I complicit if I didn’t go straight to Duncan, tell her what happened? If I ran back to Brooklyn—if I holed up in Westchester with Carl and Brenda—would it look like I was running, too? And if I did tell Duncan about Max’s phone call, what would that mean for him?

Maybe it was something I could have more easily done were I not a mother. Maybe if it were just me and Max, I could cut and run, let the cards fall where they may. But he wasn’t just Max anymore. He was the father of my daughter.

If I gave him up, where did that leave me? Leave Freya? I needed time to think.

“Molly, it’s not that simple,” I said. “There are things about Max that I didn’t know, that I’m learning. And I’m trying to make sense of those things, and Liana knows him. She gets him, gets what’s going on in a way you never will. She’s not ready to just abandon him—”

“Of course she’s not,” Molly said, throwing her hands up. “She’s on his side.”

“He’s my daughter’s father. I can’t just throw him to the wolves.

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