Eight Hundred Grapes

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I didn’t want to go back into the house—not until Michelle was gone—so I headed toward the vineyard, toward the winery, calling Suzannah on the way.

“What’s going on?” she said.

“I ended it.”

“What?” She sounded shocked. “What do you mean, you ended it? You’re getting married in five days!”

“Maddie’s mother showed up here and she’s still in love with Ben.”

“So I take it that you didn’t listen to my turtle analogy?”

“How does that apply?”

“Someone opened the door for her!”

I moved deeper into the vines, wanting to feel something besides what I was feeling. “How could he not tell me she wanted to be with him again?”

“How can you let her win?”

“I didn’t know it was a contest.”

“Of course it is!”

I thought of Michelle, stunning and sure of herself. She wasn’t particularly fond of me, though she was great with Maddie. And I could see how, given the chance, she’d be great to Ben.

“Then I’m going to lose.”

“No you’re not. So she’s a little famous. A little gorgeous.”

“Can someone be a little gorgeous?”

“So she’s more than a little gorgeous,” she said. “She’s incredibly gorgeous. You’re not so bad either.”

I laughed.

“Seriously, you’re smart and successful and the most loving person I know. Not to mention gorgeous in your own right. Michelle Carter has nothing on you.”

“Says my best friend.”

“And the man you’re supposed to be with,” Suzannah said.

She was quiet.

“It’s not too late to work this out with him.”

“Why are you pushing me to forgive him?”

“Because you did the wrong thing.”

My heart dropped. “Why are you saying that?”

“Because I have to.” She paused, as if considering how to convince me of that. “Charles cheated on me in high school. Have I told you that? I’m sure I’ve told you that.”

She had told me a hundred times. It was the first story Suzannah had shared, my first day at work, or, after work, when she’d taken me for a welcome-to-law-firm-hell drink. Law firms like to make enemies out of their female lawyers, she said. Let’s be best friends instead. Then she proceeded to prove her friendship by telling me that her husband had been unfaithful. Only halfway through the story did it become clear that Charles had cheated on her in high school. That she remembered it like yesterday, walking in and seeing him with the head of the drama club and clocking him in the head.

“If I hadn’t forgiven him, I would have given up an entire life with him. Our family. All the good things. I was rewarded for forgiving him. That is what I’m trying to say. Forgive Ben. You will be rewarded.”