In Sickness and in Lies novel · Chapter 26 of 32

Chapter 26: The Same Day

I waited until his front door was shut behind us.

The two-flat was dark, and the stacks of books stood on the floor where they always stood.

"Tell me what he offered," I said.

Bruce took off his coat and hung it on the hook, slowly, because he was giving himself time.

"He said my complaint would vanish if I stopped seeing you."

"And you said no."

"I said no at once."

"After a minute, he told me."

"He lies for a living," Bruce said. "I didn't pause. I wanted to see his face, and I did."

I believed him.

That was the trouble, because I believed him and I was still angry.

"You sat in that room alone, and you carried it for a week," I said. "You let me think the leave was only the hospital being careful."

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because you'd have dropped the vote to save my license. You'd have been right to."

"That's not your call."

"No."

"I'm the one who decides what I carry."

"I know." His jaw worked. "I was wrong. I'd do it again, and I was wrong."

That was so exactly like him that a laugh came out of me, short and bad.

"You're impossible."

"I've heard it."

I crossed the room and took a fistful of his shirt.

"Next time you tell me," I said. "The same day. Even when it's ugly."

"Same day."

"Say it."

"I will tell you the same day, Gwyneth."

I kissed him.

It was not gentle, and he did not want it to be.

He lifted me against the wall, and my coat hit the floor, and his mouth was on my throat before I had my breath.

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