“I’m going to tell her she needs to resign. I’ll give her a good severance package and a glowing letter of recommendation. I’m sorry for everything. I should have nipped this in the bud a long time ago.”

“Did my mother call you about Sabrina?”

Simon nodded. “Yeah. She was upset that we were separating. She told me that it didn’t matter if I was innocent if the appearance of impropriety was going to ruin my marriage. So that’s when I told Sabrina she couldn’t travel to New York with me.”

Kate studied him for a moment.

“She didn’t think you were cheating?”

He shook his head. “No. She said she knew I loved you too much to do that.” He put his head in his hands. “I miss her.”

Kate thought about that for a moment. Maybe Lily had seen something in Simon that Kate had never been able to see. “I’m sorry that my mother had more faith in you than I did.” She pulled a pillow onto her lap and wrapped her arms around it. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking after all that’s happened.”

Simon shifted in his chair.

“I’ve walked around all these years tortured with guilt, regret, grief. I’ve cheated you of the kind of love you should have had from a wife. After the accident.” She stopped. “After Jake died, I never got over it. It didn’t matter that the other driver was drunk, that the accident was his fault.” She was crying. “I’d been drinking too. I was acting crazy, playing with the radio. It’s my fault that Blaire didn’t see that car coming until it was too late.”

He sat quietly, waiting for her to go on.

“I’ve always regretted it. It’s crippled me, made me feel like I was always hiding this horrible secret, that I was an awful person. That’s why I never drink now. I was too ashamed to tell you the real reason. Every time I thought about Jake, he became this tragic hero, a bright light I had snuffed out.” She studied Simon’s face.

“He’s always been there, between us.”

She nodded. “You’re right. I never gave myself all the way. I never allowed you to become to me what I thought Jake had been. I made him larger than life after he died.” She paused and looked at Simon with tenderness. “You would never have been able to live up to the ghost of Jake.”

They were both quiet for a few moments.