Chapter 7: What Dana Knew
I called the number the next morning.
Julian had slept in the guest room.
Not because I had asked him to — he had offered, quietly, before we said goodnight.
I had nodded and let him go, and then I had lain in our bed listening to the house settle around me and thinking about the word *coward* — the word he had used about himself — and whether a person who could name their own worst quality was more trustworthy or less.
Dana answered on the second ring.
"Nora," she said.
She had a steady voice.
Careful, the way people are careful when they've rehearsed being calm.
"Thank you for agreeing to speak with me," I said.
"I almost didn't," she said.
"I want you to know that.
I've spent three years trying not to think about Julian.
But Meg told me about the twins.
About what he said before he left." A pause.
"No woman with a six-month-old baby should hear that."
"No," I said.
"I'm going to tell you something," she said.
"And I need you to understand that I'm not telling you to hurt him.
I'm telling you because I wish someone had told me."
"I'm listening."
"The woman he was seeing while we were together — it wasn't just dinners.
It went on for eleven months.
I found out by accident.
A receipt in a jacket pocket.
The kind of thing that only means something when you're already looking."
I sat down on the edge of the bed.
"When I confronted him," Dana continued, "he told me it was my fault.
That I had been too focused on my career.
That I had made him feel invisible.
He was very calm about it.
Very reasonable-sounding.
He had an explanation for everything."
"He's good at that," I said.
"Yes." A beat.
"He cried.
He apologized.
He said he would do anything.
And I almost believed him.
I was this close to staying." Her voice didn't waver, but I could hear what it cost her to keep it steady.
"What stopped me was something his mother said."
I went very still.
"His mother?"
"She called me the day after I found out.
Julian must have told her we were fighting.
She didn't know the details.
She just called to check on me, the way she always did — she was always kind to me, his mother.
And I told her what had happened."
"What did she say?"
Dana was quiet for a moment.
"She said, 'Dana, I love my son.
But I know who he becomes when he's frightened.
He runs.
He always has.
And the people closest to him pay for it.' And then she said, 'You deserve better than someone who runs.'"
The room felt very still.
"His mother said that," I said.
"She did.
And then she said something else.
She said that she had hoped marriage would change him.
That she had hoped the right person would make him want to stay."
I thought about the phone call I had made four days ago.
I thought about the way his mother had said *I'm so sorry, sweetheart* and been in her car within the hour.
She had known.
She had known for years what her son was capable of, and she had come anyway.
"Nora," Dana said.
"I'm not telling you to leave him.
That's your decision.
But I am telling you: whatever he promises you in that house right now — make sure there are actions behind it, not just words.
Julian is very good with words."
"I know," I said.
"And one more thing." She paused.
"The woman from the fishing trip.
Her name is Kristen.
She works with one of his friends.
This isn't the first time they've had dinner."
I closed my eyes.
"How do you know that?"
"Because Meg looked her up when she saw the booking.
Kristen posted a photo from a restaurant three months ago.
Julian is in the background.
Meg recognized him."
I opened my eyes.
"Three months ago," I said.
"Yes."
I thanked Dana.
She wished me well in the quiet way of someone who has already paid a price and hopes you won't have to pay the same one.
I sat with the phone in my lap for a long time after she hung up.
Then I stood up, walked to the guest room, and opened the door without knocking.
Julian was awake.
May you like
Sitting on the edge of the bed, still dressed, like he hadn't slept at all.
"Tell me about Kristen," I said.
