Chapter 5: What Lauren Was Sorry For
Lauren came to my house the next morning at ten.
She was younger than I'd expected up close — mid-thirties, dark circles under her eyes, holding a coffee cup with both hands like she needed the warmth.
She sat across from me at the kitchen table and didn't take her coat off.
"I've known Chloe for four years," she said.
"We were close.
Or I thought we were."
"What changed?"
"The messages I showed Nolan — I wasn't supposed to see those.
She sent them to her sister from my phone by mistake.
We were at brunch.
She picked up my phone instead of hers." Lauren looked down at her cup.
"I didn't say anything at the time.
I told myself it wasn't my business."
"But you kept them."
"I screenshotted them before I gave the phone back.
I don't know why exactly.
I think I knew I might need them." She paused.
"I should have told Nolan months ago.
Before the wedding.
I've been thinking about those kids ever since."
"What's the one more thing?" I asked.
"The thing you texted me about."
Lauren set her coffee down.
"Chloe has been talking to a realtor," she said.
"Not about buying.
About selling.
She wants to list the house."
I stared at her.
"Nolan's house," I said.
"The house he owned before they married."
"Yes.
She told her sister she was going to convince him to sell and use the money to buy something new.
Something that was just theirs.
No history.
No kids' rooms." Lauren's voice was steady but her hands weren't.
"She used the word 'fresh start.' She said the kids could visit on weekends once they were settled at school."
The kitchen felt very still.
"Visit," I said.
"That's the word she used."
I thought about the attic.
All those boxes.
The colorful bedroom walls painted over in white.
The Lego tub that my grandson had carried like a life raft all the way to my car.
"Does Nolan know about the realtor?" I asked.
"Not yet.
That part wasn't in the messages I showed him."
"Why are you telling me and not him?"
Lauren was quiet for a moment.
"Because I needed to tell someone who would know what to do with it.
And because—" She stopped.
Looked at the table.
"Because I was there yesterday when that little boy said he was just showing his grandma.
And I just stood there.
I stood there and I didn't say a word until it was almost too late." She looked up.
"I don't want to do that again."
The kids were upstairs.
I could hear them moving around, the faint sound of my grandson's voice narrating something to himself.
"I'll tell Nolan," I said.
"Today."
Lauren nodded.
She finally took her coat off.
"There's something else," she said.
"Something I haven't told anyone."
May you like
I waited.
"The school she contacted — she already put down a deposit."
