The End of Her - Shari Lapena Page 0,89

of.

Stay or go? She can’t decide. Maybe over time the path will become clearer, more obvious.

She’d lain in bed last night awake until almost dawn, thinking how all her problems would be solved if he were to be killed in a car accident, perhaps hit by a drunk driver. But those things don’t just happen when you want them to. And it always seems to be good people who are taken too soon that way.

She’s trapped.

Stephanie remembers all this as she stands on Hanna’s doorstep, almost swaying with fatigue, and rings the doorbell. Hanna opens the door and invites her in. Stephanie settles the twins on the living-room floor, and Hanna retreats into the kitchen to make coffee. Stephanie can smell the muffins. She closes her eyes for a moment, fighting tears. She can remember when life was simple. She and Hanna getting together, talking about the babies – coffee and muffins and milestones. How did it all go so wrong? She hears Hanna coming back into the living room and opens her eyes, blinking away tears.

‘Coffee will be ready in a jiffy,’ Hanna says, then looks at her more closely. ‘Tell me what’s going on,’ she says.

Stephanie doesn’t know what to say. This is something she thought about last night too. What to say to Hanna. Does she pretend everything is okay? Or can she be honest with her? She’s not ready for that. Finally she forces a smile and says, ‘Everything is fine.’ She explains why they dropped the charges. She tells her about Erica, her criminal past.

Hanna looks back at her, concerned. She’s not fooled. ‘But what do you think?’ she asks finally.

Stephanie swallows. ‘He cheated on his first wife. I know that. I’ve managed to forgive him for that – I think. But Erica is clearly a liar. She was telling nothing but lies about the accident. Everybody knows that now. It was just a terrible, tragic accident.’ She pauses, then adds, ‘But Patrick knows that if he ever cheats on me, I’ll leave him.’

Hanna continues to look at her uneasily, but Stephanie smiles back at her. ‘I don’t think I have anything to worry about any more. It’s all good. And I’m dying for one of your muffins.’

CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

NANCY GATHERS UP her handbag and a jacket and leaves the house for her exercise class. She’s opening her car door when she sees a woman approaching her from a car parked across the street. She immediately recognizes Erica and feels her insides turn to jelly. Why is she here? Nancy wants to get into her car and speed off, but she suddenly can’t move. Instead, she watches Erica come swiftly up her driveway, the wind blowing her blonde hair around. How could a woman who looks so angelic be so hideous?

‘Hello, Nancy,’ Erica says.

‘What the hell do you want?’ Nancy asks nervously.

‘Your husband isn’t returning my calls.’

‘Of course he isn’t. I told you that he’d drop you the minute I told him I knew. He never wants to see you again. He doesn’t want to lose me.’

Erica gives her a sceptical look, which infuriates Nancy. She now knows what this woman is made of – she hadn’t known before, when she confronted her at her own apartment – and she’s terrified. She just wants her out of their lives. How can she get rid of her?

‘If you’re so sure, then why are you so nervous?’ Erica needles her.

‘I’m not.’

‘What are you afraid of?’ Erica asks slowly. ‘What are you hiding?’

‘Nothing,’ Nancy says too quickly. She recovers herself and says, ‘Why is it so hard to believe that a man might want to end a stupid affair and stay married?’

‘Tell him to call me,’ Erica says.

‘Just get the hell out of our lives!’ Nancy shouts.

Erica smiles and says, ‘Just have him call me, will you?’ She turns on her heel and walks back to her car. Nancy watches her drive away, and then, shaking visibly, slams her car door and heads back into the house.

She locks the door behind her and collapses onto the couch, curling into a foetal position. Fear and dread envelop her. She’s so frightened that Erica will find out what she and Niall have been hiding for the last six years. She doesn’t want to think about it but guilt and fear pull her into the past.

It happened on a rainy night in late November. She and Niall had decided to go to dinner at a restaurant in Westchester County, a little over