The Silence Between Us: A Vow to Return novel · Chapter 8 of 24

Chapter 8: Her Mother's Photo

On Sunday morning I rang the bell of a third-floor apartment in Logan Square.

I had gotten the address from Margaret, who had gotten it from Harold's own contact list.

"It's only fair," she said. "He took my guest list."

The door opened on the chain, and then all the way.

Kendra stood there in gray sweatpants and a faded college sweatshirt, with her hair loose and her eyes swollen.

"Hannah," she said. "Oh, God. Come in."

The apartment was small and very neat.

There was a kettle already steaming on the stove and a plant on every windowsill.

She cleared a stack of files off the couch and waved me into it.

"I was going to call you," she said. "I couldn't make myself."

"Why not?"

"Because every version of the call ended with me telling you something I'm not allowed to say."

"Then I'll ask it plainly," I said. "Are you sleeping with my husband, or with my husband's father?"

Kendra stared at me.

Then she made a sound that was half a laugh and half a sob, and she sat down on the arm of the opposite chair with her hand over her mouth.

"Neither," she said. "Hannah, no. Neither. I would sooner walk into the lake."

"Then why are you in every room he is?"

"Because he asked me to be." Her eyes were wet. "Because the only person he can say it to is me."

"Say what?"

"I can't."

"Everyone keeps telling me that."

"I know." She wiped her face with her sleeve. "I begged him to tell you in April. I begged Harold, too, in his office, on my knees almost. He said after the fourteenth."

← Chapter 7 · All chapters · Chapter 9 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend