“Meredith, it isn’t what you —”
“Did you know?” I said. “Did you know she was meeting him?”
A long pause on the line.
“I knew why,” my mother said quietly.
I hung up on her. It was the first time in my life I had ever hung up on my mother.
I knew exactly what was going on. Paige had run to my mother to get her version in first. She’d always been good with my mom. My mom had always loved her. Of course she’d take Paige’s side.
That evening, I called my friend Lorna Ruiz. Then Theresa from work. Then Russell’s sister, Bethany. I told them all the same thing. Secret meetings. A year of lies. Text messages. It will destroy her.
By Tuesday, the whole circle knew. Bethany stopped answering Paige’s calls. Theresa unfriended her. Somebody from our old church group posted a vague, ugly line on Facebook about snakes who wait for funerals. Everyone knew who it meant.
