I smile. “I don’t think that hospital has a helipad on the roof, though.” I take a long sip of water, realizing how thirsty I am. “They said they couldn’t reach you for a while.”
“Yeah, I’d gone to Westport to meet with that potential client—Ben Sachs—and two of his associates.”
“That’s what I guessed.”
“Unbeknownst to me, he’d decided to turn the office meeting we’d set up into brunch on his boat, and needless to say, the cell service sucked. Apparently, Melinda was trying to reach me for hours without any luck, so she ended up sending someone to the marina to wait for me.”
“Well, I’m just glad she finally got through.” I let my eyes roam the great room, hoping that clues will present themselves. “Hugh, I really need you to help me fill in a few blanks, okay? According to my calendar, I’d blocked off time this morning to work on my book, so why would I have left here so early? Did I mention anything to you about an appointment or last-minute meeting today?”
His expression clouds. “I can’t help you with this morning.”
“What do you mean?” I ask, puzzled.
“I didn’t see you.”
“You mean I left even earlier than you did?”
“No, Ally, you weren’t here at all. You’ve been gone for two whole days.”
6
I hear his words, but they stall out in my brain.
“Hugh, I don’t understand,” I say. “What are you talking about?”
“I haven’t set eyes on you since Tuesday morning.”
The full-blown panic I experienced this morning had slowly subsided, but it now it rears its head again like a jungle cat catching the scent of prey on the wind.
“But . . . we ordered in.” I think of the vague memory of the evening I’d shared with Dr. Agarwal. “We watched TV.”
“That was Monday night.” Hugh’s expression is pained. “You were in bed when I left the next morning at around—I’d say, seven—and I assumed you were asleep. That was the last time I saw you before I came to pick you up at the hospital.”
My heart races as I grasp the truth. I’ve been so focused on making sense of today that I didn’t give much thought to the days immediately prior. But Tuesday and Wednesday, I now realize, are a total blank. Where the hell was I?
“Why didn’t you explain this to Dr. Agarwal?”
“I wanted to get you out of there, and it seemed that the less said at the moment, the better.”
“But . . . weren’t you worried about where I was?” I say, almost pleading. Why hadn’t Hugh called the police?
“Yes, of course I was, but not because I thought you were in any danger.” He takes a breath, exhales. “We . . . we had a big argument before bed Monday night. I thought you’d gone to stay with a friend for a couple of nights. Gabby, maybe.”
It’s not that odd that his mind went to her. Gabby’s the first important friend I made in New York—we ended up sharing an apartment after we met through mutual friends—and though we’re wildly different, we’ve been close for more than a decade. But the idea of my taking off seems unfathomable.
“Hugh, that’s crazy. How could you think I would just move out for a few days?”
He swipes a hand over his scalp, raking his fingers through his short brown hair. “You said you needed space, that you wanted time alone to think, and so I took you at your word. I tried calling you, of course—a bunch of times. But you never called me back.”
I push myself up from the sofa, stumbling slightly on the edge of the rug.
“Ally, please sit down,” he insists.
But I can’t, and instead pace in front of the coffee table, trying to grapple with what he’s just revealed.
“So what was the fight about?” I ask. That’s the million-dollar question, after all.
He rises from the couch himself and heads to the island, where he pours another glass of wine.
“It was my fault,” he says, avoiding my gaze momentarily. “It was a discussion I was hoping to keep positive, but it ended up spiraling in the wrong direction.”
“A discussion about what?”
“Kids. I pressed you again.”
“Well, how bad did it get?”
“We weren’t screaming, if that’s what you mean.”
No, we wouldn’t have screamed. We’re both controlled and averse to messiness, and that’s how I prefer it.
“But it did get a little heated,” he adds. “And you seemed really upset.”
Mostly I’ve tried to be understanding of Hugh’s position. I mean,