voice softened.
“But you still told Mom things.”
It was the truth I couldn’t avoid.
“I know she loved me,” I said.
Penelope nodded.
“And she still hid it from you.”
For informational purposes only.
Both statements were true.
That’s what made it painful.
That evening, I took off my wedding ring and placed it next to Irene’s.
Then I turned our wedding photo face down on the table.
I no longer doubted that she had loved me.
What I doubted was how far love could stretch around a lie.
The next morning, I stopped trying to understand Irene.
Instead, I started thinking about what I was going to do with what she had left behind.
I called Mr. Geller.
“Did she ask you to make it up to her to forgive me?”
“No.”
“What did she ask?”
“To tell you the truth after he leaves.”
I laughed once, but
