“I’d tell her not to come back,” I say the instant Polly is gone, the front door clicking closed behind her.
“Not an option, Georgia,” Ethan says. He sounds regretful. “Sorry.”
“Maybe we can tell Lily that Polly unexpectedly got the news that she’s moving to Alaska?” Georgia suggests.
I can’t help but laugh.
“I think Lily would just demand that we go and visit her,” I point out. “Then she’ll get disappointed because I can’t afford it.”
I huff. I’m really irritated, and I don’t know where to direct all that energy. It’s not often that I allow my anger to cloud my emotions like this; I’ve usually got a very mellow personality.
But from the moment Polly stepped into the kitchen, my hackles raised. I’m not sorry about what I said to her, even if it almost caused an argument between the two of us to break out, but I am sorry for the stress it put on Ethan, and I know I should have held my tongue.
But seeing her in Ethan’s kitchen, in her expensive clothes, her eyes taking in every corner of the tiny, cramped room and the shelves overflowing with books, knick-knacks and toys… It just got to me. She looked out of place and it was clear, from the way her nose was ever so slightly raised, that she didn’t approve of the little that Ethan and Lily had.
Well, fuck her. She doesn’t get the right to approve or disapprove. She doesn’t have the right to sneer at the struggles Ethan has gone through to provide himself and his daughter with a home.
So, I ran my mouth and it was delightful to watch how angry Polly got. She might have fancier clothes and a rich husband, but she was still the same stubborn, temperamental woman that Ethan married so long ago.
Yet it was hearing Polly’s story that really angered me. And seeing Ethan’s resignation to it all just made it all worse. I knew he was angry, but, apparently, he’d already worked some of it out and come to terms with it.
But, me, I’m hearing it all for the first time. I’m only now hearing about how Polly was too much of a coward to tell her parents that she was completely abandoning her husband and child, and so chose to accuse Ethan, sweet, kind, gentle Ethan, of fucking abuse.
I thought I didn’t like Polly. But now I despise her, and I’d be happy to never see her again. Ethan might not be as mad about it, but that doesn’t matter. I’ll be angry enough for the both of us, because it just isn’t fucking right. Ethan lost his wife, his
family and everything he knew because Polly was just that much of a bitch.
“Georgia.”
I look up at hearing Ethan’s calm voice. It occurs to me that emotions must be chasing each other across my face as I remember Polly’s words, and he’s reading my thoughts with the ease of someone who has known me for most of my life.
“She had post-partum depression,” he says. He holds up a hand before I can say anything. “It doesn’t make any of this right or fair. And I’m still angry at her. But…it does explain a lot. I’m surprised that none of us picked up on it at the time.”
“I don’t give a damn,” I mutter. “What she did was absolutely inexcusable.”
“To be honest…I’m less angry about what she did, and more angry that it’s taken her so long to try and correct it,” Ethan says slowly. “Her actions while depressed were insane, but slightly understandable when you take her condition into account. Her actions after she had started to get better are harder to understand.”
“Yeah,” I grimace. “She said she started to question her own actions only months after she left. Why didn’t she reach out to you and explain then?”
“Exactly,” Ethan agrees. He looks away, staring unseeingly at the wall. “And…something’s off.”
“What do you mean?” I ask, startled.
Ethan frowns, and I can almost see him trying to collect his scattered thoughts. I hadn’t noticed anything strange about Polly; despite her story and the way she kept trying to make excuses, she had seemed genuinely apologetic about everything.
“Look, I can’t put my finger on it,” Ethan sighs. “But why now? It’s been ten years. If she was being honest about getting better years ago, enough to have another relationship with someone, then why has it taken so long? And why has she chosen now to show up? I know Polly. She’s not the type to air her dirty laundry so long afterwards. If anything, she would just keep sweeping all this under the rug for the rest of her life, if she had the choice.”
I want to follow Ethan’s thoughts. It makes Polly’s actions seem so much more suspicious. But I lean back.
“Maybe you’re right,” I say. “Or maybe you’re just being paranoid. I agree with you that Polly isn’t the type to show up and make confessions, especially so long after the event. But something like this is big, and her daughter is involved, too. If she wants to get to know Lily, then she has to air everything with you, whether she wants to or not.”
“Yeah,” Ethan says. He grimaces. “I guess you’re right. Her being here just got to me. The way she looked around… I get that this place is small, and a little cluttered, but this is our home. And it’s not much smaller than what she and I used to have.”
“She’s probably used to much bigger houses and apartments these days, now that she’s married to a councilor,” I point out. “Maybe that’s just her ‘rich wife’ coming out.”
Ethan snorts with laughter, just like I’d wanted.
“Maybe,” he replies. He groans and leans back. “Man, I really would like to just tell her she can’t come back, though.”