Chapter 6: What Stephanie Was Told

Stephanie came up the gravel road at three in the morning in a rideshare with a cracked taillight.

I stood on the porch in Annette's bathrobe with my hand wrapped in a tie.

A woman in a wedding dress climbed out of the back seat.

She had a man's gray coat over the dress and a plastic shopping bag in her hand.

Her braid had come loose.

"I'm sorry," she said at the bottom of the steps. "I know I shouldn't be here. I didn't know where else to go."

"You can't take the dress off, can you?" I said.

She blinked at me.

"The zipper's stuck," she said. "I tried for an hour in the car."

"Come inside."

Annette had the kitchen light on and a pan on the stove before we got through the door.

"Eggs," she said. "Sit."

Stephanie sat.

I stood behind her and worked the zipper down, a little at a time, with my good hand.

When the zipper reached the bottom, Stephanie pulled her coat tight and her shoulders dropped.

"I'll go and change," I said. "Aunt Annette, find her something to wear."

Ten minutes later she sat at the kitchen table in my sweatpants and a Tar Heels shirt.

She had a plate of scrambled eggs she didn't eat.

She put her phone down between us.

"Read it," she said. "Please. I want you to see exactly what he said."

I scrolled up through a month of messages.

The first one was dated a month ago, a little after midnight.

"Steph, I need to tell someone and you're the only person I trust. Holly has been seeing someone else."

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