“It’s all gone wrong,” I say. “Everything’s gone wrong. I’m so stupid.”
She soothes me with long slow strokes of her palm. “You’re not stupid, honey. Not at all.” Pulling back, she gazes into my watery eyes and rests a soft hand against my cheek. “Why don’t you come and sit down, and then you can tell me everything? We’ll get this sorted out between us; I promise.”
“It can’t be sorted,” I say, even as I let her lead me to the white cane loveseat and pour me a glass of iced tea. I can only sip a little before my stomach roils.
Maggie rests her hand on my knee and squeezes. “You know, there have been times in my life when I thought everything was lost, and somehow, I managed to find myself again. Just tell me what’s gotten you so emotional, and I’ll try to help.”
With a deep, shaky breath, I hang my head. “I trusted them, Maggie, even though every instinct told me not to get involved. I tried to walk away after the barbecue we had here. I tried to tell them that it was crazy, even though we’d all seen how happy you guys were. I just knew I couldn’t trust them.”
“Couldn’t trust who, honey?”
“The Carltons. The assholes who told me I just had to take a leap with them and see where this thing can go.”
“Why are they assholes? You guys seemed great at the gallery. Fire, even. When we spoke on the phone, you were uncertain about what to do because of your mom, not because of them.”
“We were…we were great,” I say, my voice breaking around the last word.
“So what happened?”
I tell her about the article and Alden giving the paper an interview without consulting me, and then I tell her about Kyle and how they’ve let him back into their lives. “It was all just a game to them,” I say. “They were just playing with me. Like that girl who I caught them fucking on my bed. I was just something to use. I thought they cared about me. I thought what we had meant something to them, but they don’t care about me at all.”
“Oh, sweetie. That all sounds horrible,” Maggie says softly, squeezing my knee as I use my other hand to wipe my tears away. She leaves me space to take a few deep and fortifying breaths before she slumps back into her seat.
Dale gives me a strange look as though he’s never seen an adult cry before, and I give him a watery smile. The last thing I want to do is freak out a child.
“Have you spoken to them about any of this?” she asks.
“What’s there to speak about? You want me to ask them why they think socializing with the guy who molested me is a good idea? Or why giving quotes to the press that exposes me to everyone is not cool? Shouldn’t that be something they just understand without being told?”
“Yes,” Maggie says. “Absolutely. If that’s what happened, then they absolutely are in the wrong and should have known better.”
“You sound like you think that isn’t what happened,” I huff. “I know what I saw and read.”
“I know,” Maggie says. “But you know, sometimes we see and read things that aren’t the whole truth. The Carlton brothers don’t seem like heartless assholes. I mean, I’ve only met them twice, but both times I could see that they care for you. They just don’t seem like the kind of men who would tell you one thing and do another. It’s hard to pretend to love someone. The way they are with you…it looked genuine.”
“It’s just another one of their pranks,” I say. “They lured me in, but they were playing a long game. They started off by throwing parties and fucking girls on my bed, and when that didn’t work, they worked out that they could seduce me and break me that way.”
“Oh my God, Cora. That sounds so awful.” Maggie rests her hands on her thighs and lets out a long sigh. “I really hope it’s not true, honey. I really do.”
“It is. I just know it.” Burying my head in my hands, I let out another sob, and Maggie rubs my back again, making soft humming noises that she probably uses when Dale is distressed
“Cathy’s a bitch,” she says eventually, and I snort with a manic burst of laughter at the change in topic.
“She really is.”
“This is it for me, honey,” she says. “I mean, I know we’ve all forgiven so much over the years, and when we were kids, it seemed like the right thing to do, but I just can’t keep reconciling what I know to be true about her with a pretense at friendship. She’s only ever out for herself. Even Justin asks me why the hell I’m still in touch with her, and you know how he was with Cathy before I got pregnant. He was obsessed with her.”