“You used your daughter as an exit.”
Ryan slowly nodded.
“Say it.”
He looked at me.
“Ivy—”
“Say what you did.”
His face crumpled.
Finally, he forced out the words.
“I used Hope as a way to escape because I was drowning, and I was too ashamed to tell Melissa.”
Silence filled the kitchen.
It was ugly.
But it was honest.
And honesty, even painful honesty, was the first useful thing he had given any of us in months.
I stood.
“You’re telling Melissa.”
His eyes widened.
“Ivy—”
“Tonight.”
“She’ll leave me.”
“Maybe.”
He stared at me.
I didn’t soften.
“Maybe she will. Maybe she won’t. But you don’t get to make that decision for her.”
“I was trying to protect our marriage.”
“No. A marriage protected by lies isn’t protected at all.”
Ryan looked down.
“You tell her about the job. The credit cards. The coffee shop. Every interview. Every lie. And you tell her exactly why you walked out of that hospital room.”
He was crying openly now.
“I don’t know if I can.”
“Then I’ll do it.”
His head snapped up.
I picked up my keys.
“You have one chance to tell your wife the truth yourself.”
He stared at me for a long time.
Finally, he nodded.
“Okay.”
“I’m coming with you.”
