“I’m not lying,” she pleaded. “We stopped there for an hour at most. We went to the meetings, then to that house. There weren’t any guys around.”

My phone in my hand dinged as my brother’s name popped up on my screen. I knew Elodie must have heard it, but I tapped my fingers against the wall, just in case, to let her know I was coming into the room. She perked up and wiped at her tears.

“Phillip, Karina’s just walked in,” she cautioned him.

“Hey, Karina,” Phillip said, his voice nice and friendly, a complete transformation from what it had been.

I threw him a bland “hey” and walked into the kitchen. My intrusion seemed to stop their conversation. I decided to stay out of the living room and wait for Elodie to finish. Dishes were piling up in the sink. Wet laundry had accumulated in the washing machine and I opened the dryer to clear it, feeling taunted yet again by Kael as I placed folded clothes in the basket. I couldn’t even blame the mess on my emotional despair because the breakup had happened barely twelve hours ago.

Elodie signed off Skype and met me in the kitchen as I stood washing the dishes. She didn’t seem ready to say anything for a few minutes, and I kept myself busy cleaning up. I gave her a moment to herself as she sat silently at the table.

“Everything okay?” I asked eventually. “Is Phillip coming home?”

She shook her head and I went to sit down across the table from her. Elodie’s eyes were bloodshot; the tip of her nose was red as fire. I didn’t want to press her, but she was obviously not okay.

She handed my question back to me. “How are you feeling, Karina?”

“I’m fine. Don’t let the hair fool you. Elodie, you know you can talk to me.”

“You have your own problems.” She tried to smile.

“We’ve done enough talking about that. I’m here for you, too.”

She nodded. “I’m okay. It’s only Phillip imagining things when he hears the other soldiers talk. Why is there so much drama? Don’t they have anything better to do?” She sniffled and rubbed her nose. “How are you?”she asked, reaching a hand across the table. I pretended not to notice as I lowered my hands onto my lap.

“I’m all right. Just tired,” I lied.

If she could lie to my face, I could do the same.

CHAPTER SIXTY