Page 97 of Even After This
Molly shoots a death glare at my friend. “With all due respect, Claire, you aren’t around her as much as I am.”
“With all due respect, Molly, you have no idea what my relationship with Meredith is like.”
“You’re hardly around,” Stanley says to Claire.
I want to scream, but I’m not sure which of them I should start with. “Stop talking about my life like I’m not here.”
Stanley leans toward me. “How long have you been dating?”
“Since her trip to Colorado,” Harlan answers for me.
Stanley frowns at Harlan, then focuses on me. “When we talked, you said there wasn’t anyone else.”
Harlan turns to me, blocking Stanley from my sight. “You said there wasn’t anyone else? When exactly did you talk to him?”
“See,” Molly interjects, “you haven’t been together long enough for you to dive into the Christmas holidays.”
Peeking around Harlan, I throw a pleading look to Claire.
Her eyes fill with alarm and she shakes her head.
“Meredith.” Harlan’s grunt pulls me back to my conversation with him.
“Harlan.” I lower my voice. “I wasn’t sure about us for a while.”
He looks to the sky, then back to me. “I told you to trust me.”
“Meredith,” Stanley calls to me. “Doesn’t sound like you’re sure now.”
Harlan cranes his neck to look back at Stanley. “Back off.”
“Back off?” Stanley asks, his voice raised.
“Stanley,” I growl so loud that everyone freezes. Pushing Harlan out of the way so I can see each person, I swallow and say with finality, “You are way out of line.”
“He doesn’t even know you.”
“Youdon’t even know me!” I yell, surprising no one more than myself. “I get that I treated you terribly after Steve died, but I will not tiptoe around you any longer. You’ve overstepped your bounds, offered your unsolicited opinion, and made massively incorrect assumptions about what I’ve needed. And I know—” I squeeze my eyes shut, shake my head, then look at Stanley and say with a softer but firm voice, “I know you do these things in the name of your friendship with Steve, but that suffocates me in manipulation.”
Stanley gapes. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Harlan, his face granite, gives a chin lift to the door. “I think it means it’s time for you to leave.”
Stanley looks from me to Harlan. “This has nothing to do with you.”
“If you’ve been paying attention, man, this has nothing to do with you either, and everything to do with Meredith.”
Stanley shoves his hands in his jacket pockets and points his eyes to the ground. “I guess I know when I’m not needed.”
I feel Harlan’s hand on the small of my back, but his face is unreadable.
Claire nods as if she’s having a conversation with herself. “Meredith, I left the soup inside for you. But I have to get going.” She asks Stanley, “Will you please walk me to my car?”
Without looking at me, he turns and walks back into the house.
Following Stanley, Claire looks over her shoulder at me and mouths,I love you.
Once they leave, Harlan turns to me. “Why haven’t you mentioned Stanley before?”
