“No.” She shook her head adamantly. “Once the baby is here, that’s all we’ll talk about, trust me. So before the baby takes over everything, we’re talking about this, even if you hate me for it. Because . . .” She leaned toward me, her expression openly concerned. “I’ve never seen you like this. Not even about your mom.”

“Like what?” I asked dully.

“Like that.” Greer gestured to me impatiently. “Voice flat, eyes hard and empty. Every now and then I’ll see pain in them, which is a far sight better than nothing at all. You’ve lost weight.”

“I can’t lose weight in a week.” But it was true. My jeans felt a little looser around the waist.

“Evie . . . you’re grieving.”

“So what if I am?”

“So what if you are?” she snapped. “Evie, Roane didn’t die! The village didn’t disappear. You made a choice to leave him and it behind. Are you sure it was the right choice?”

I stared at her in disbelief. “He lied. They lied.”

“A white lie. Okay, two white lies. But he’s not your mom. This doesn’t mean he’ll lie to you again. Or that everything he showed you about who he is isn’t the truth. Don’t you think if you can forgive your mom for years of disappointing you, you can forgive him for one slipup?”

I glared at her. “I held him to a higher standard than that.”

“Well, that’s on you. Not him. He’s just a human being.”

Astonished, I flew to my feet. “How can you take his side?”

“Because,” she replied calmly. “You tore out of there before giving yourself a chance to process what happened. The result being a miserable not even half version of my best friend standing in my sitting room.”

“I don’t need to take this.” I grabbed my purse and turned to leave.

“Evie, stop.”

Glancing over my shoulder, I saw Greer pull herself to standing. She gave me an appeasing look.

“Let me just ask one more thing and you can storm out of here after.”

I nodded, gesturing for her to continue.

“What terrified you so much that you cut him out without even considering forgiving him?”

Fresh tears welled in my eyes. I shrugged.

“That’s not an answer,” Greer pushed.

“It was proof, okay. Proof that none of it was real. It was all a lie, a fantasy, and I acted impulsively and naively.”

“It was all a fantasy . . . why . . . because you were happy? Do you think it can’t be real if it makes you that happy?”

“Apparently not.”

“Evie—”

“I just . . . I thought he was better. I thought he would never hurt me.” The tears spilled free.