“What?”
“My parents and my doctors kept telling me I had to get over you. That you’d moved on and that I had to if I was going to have any kind of life. So of course they wouldn’t tell me what was going on in your life.”
Also it was none of your business. But I didn’t say that.
I cleared my throat. “So have you?”
“Have I what?”
“Gotten over me?”
She was still visibly shuddering from my news. If I didn’t know her better, I’d swear this was the first she’d heard any of it.
Problem was, I did know her better.
And I wasn’t buying what she was selling.
“I’m working on it, Brad. I know your future is with someone else. I always thought we’d be together, but I’m dealing with it. I’ll be okay.”
“Just so you know, I have restraining orders in place. You’re not to come anywhere near my wife or my son.”
“Son?”
“Yes. My son. Jonah. He’s three months old.”
She hiccupped, and moisture welled in the bottoms of her eyes. No tears fell, though. She sniffled them away. “Congratulations.”
“Thank you. We’re very happy.”
She sniffed again. “Then I’m happy for you.”
“Are you?”
She nodded. “I’m trying, Brad. I am. The feelings I had for you were partly obsession. I get that now. But they were partly love as well.”
I nodded. I actually understood, in a way. I’d loved her once too, as a teenage boy loves his first serious girlfriend. As a teenage boy loves the woman who takes his virginity and vice versa.
“The love part is normal, Wendy. Relationships don’t always work out, but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t love.”
“I know. My therapists have been very helpful.”
“What next, then? Are you going home to Snow Creek?”
Please say no. Please say no.
She shook her head, thank God.
“I’m going back to school. If I load up, I can complete my degree in a year.”
“Good. That’s good. You’re finishing in investigative journalism?”
“Yeah. I think I can be really good at it, Brad.”
I didn’t doubt it. Wendy was so smart. If she applied herself, she could be a success at anything. As long as she didn’t go mental again.
“Who’s picking you up? Your parents?”
“Yes. In two days. They’re taking me straight back to Denver. I’ve enrolled in a few summer classes.”
Good. Very good. She wasn’t going to stay in Snow Creek at all. Halle-fucking-lujah.
“May I ask you a question, Brad?”
“Sure. Go ahead.”
“Are you happy?”
A loaded question if ever there was one. She meant with Daphne, and yes, I was. But so much else had taken over my life. First and foremost, Dr. Pelletier’s revelations about Daphne’s original diagnosis and the fact that she might be headed for another breakdown. My father’s untimely “death” and the responsibilities he’d left me with. Murph’s and Patty’s murders, which we were no closer to solving. And Theo, Tom, and Larry…which reminded me.
“Why did Theo visit you here?” I asked.
She widened her eyes. “Aren’t you going to answer my question?”
“Yes, I’m happy. Now you answer mine.”
“I don’t remember Theo visiting me.”
“At night.”
She wrinkled her forehead. “No one visited me at night, Brad. I was asleep. They gave me medication to help me drift off. I doubt anyone could have woken me up.”
“Do you remember me being here at night?”
“No… Did you come to see me?” Her face brightened—just a bit, but I noticed.
She was still holding a torch for me. Well, Rome wasn’t built in a day.
“Only once. At night.”
“How did you get in at night?” Pause. Then, “Money, of course.”
“I was concerned,” I said. “I wanted to see for myself that you were here.”
“Why?”
“You know why, Wendy.”
“You thought I might be responsible for Sean’s death.”
And Patty’s, but I kept that to myself.
“And where was I when you visited?” she asked.
“In bed. Asleep.”
“Exactly. Did you really think I could escape this place? Believe me, I tried at first. Several times. I was mad as hell at you and at my parents for doing this to me. I planned several escapes, but none of them worked. I only ended up being strapped down for a few days, which was more than enough punishment. Trust me.”
I suppressed a chuckle. I’d tied Wendy up many times. Apparently she was no longer a fan. At least not when orgasms weren’t involved.
“How many times did you try to get out?”
“Three. The third time I almost made it too.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. I made it out of the building, but the police got here before I could get off the grounds. They tasered me. Do yourself a favor, Brad. Don’t ever get tasered.”
“Wasn’t planning on it. What made you stop trying to get out?”
“A change in mindset eventually. The therapists here are good. They helped me.”
“I’m truly glad to hear that.” Truth. Even though I didn’t believe what she was saying.
“I see now that I wasn’t fair to you. You moved on, and I didn’t. That in itself wasn’t the problem, though. It was how I dealt with it. Sometimes relationships end for one person but not the other.”
“I’d say that’s pretty common,” I said.
“Of course it is. The problem was how I reacted.”
“I’m sure I didn’t help either. I always let you come back.”
“You did. Until Daphne. I’ve worked through a lot of that. I see now that my reaction wasn’t fair to you or to me.”
“You can’t fix what’s already broken, Wendy.”
“I know. I see that now. For a while I didn’t, because to me, it was never broken.”
I didn’t know what to say. Wasn’t broken? How many times had she yelled at me to get the fuck away from her and never come back? Granted, I’d done the same. It had been broken for a long, long time. How had she not seen it?
“I think part of our relationship was always broken, Wendy,” I said truthfully. “It wasn’t ever normal.”
“No, it wasn’t. I see that now.” She sighed. “We never really had a chance, did we?”
“No, we didn’t.”
“I can’t say I’m not sad about it. A part of me will always love you, but it’s time to move on.”
“Yes, it is.”
“I want you to know that I’m no threat to you or anyone you love, Brad. I mean that with all my heart.”
Did she? Did she really? I didn’t believe her, but I had to make her think I did. “Thank you,” I said. “I appreciate that. I wish you only the best. You’ll be a great journalist.”
I stood.
And I left.
For good. If I had it my way, I’d never see Wendy Madigan again.