From a Table Away ✓

Twelve

*Andy's POV*

The trial had started, with a noticeable lack of Celeste on the jury. Silver linings. With everything going on, I hadn't had the opportunity to speak with her since the bombshell that she... we, dropped on the courtroom.

The first day hadn't gone well. Neil had come to play hard hall and too many things came to light, more things that I had kept from Laurie. After dinner that night, I had sent Jacob up to his room, the tension between Laurie and I reaching its breaking point.

"You haven't said one word all night." I note from my spot in the doorway.

"Did you know? About the story?" She asks, placing the cup she was holding back in the sink.

"No."

"Just tell me the truth."

"I am."

"The truth. I need to know." She says, turning around to face me, her eyes hard.

"Laurie, I swear I'm telling the truth."

"What about the website? The Cut Up Room?"

I let out a soft sigh before looking down. "I only kept it from you cause I knew it would-"

"Don't. Don't."

"Don't what?"

"Explain it away like you do everything. Excuse it away."

"I knew it would set you off. You were already half convinced that Jacob was guilty. I didn't want to add..."

"Not anymore."

"What'd you just say?" I ask, my brows knitting together in confusion.

"I don't believe him. Not after what I heard today."

"So you're gonna let this one thing change..."

"It's always one thing. Don't you see? We're guilty too. If we protect him, we're as guilty as he is."

"Alright, alright. Just keep your voice down. He's right upstairs."

"I'm not even saying I know what to do about it. I don't. But I know what I heard and I know what it means."

"Laurie, I'm begging you. Don't talk yourself into something cause of some made-up story."

She shakes her head. "It's not a story."

"Yes, it is! This is a kid that bullied him. He probably fantasized about hurting him a thousand times. So he let his imagination run wild, and he wrote it down. Maybe... maybe he got some sick thrill imagining it. And is that horrible? Yes. It's terrible, and it was wrong, and it was stupid, but it was a story." I move closer to her. "Joanna vetted every single line from it. There wasn't one detail that hadn't already been reported by the news. He was fantasizing."

"He was confessing." She says frantically. "To call it anything else is just lawyer spin, and you know it." I turn and walk away from her, keeping my back to her as I tried to come to grips with what was happening around me. "What if you knew? What if you knew in your heart that our son did this unforgivable thing? Took the life of another child? Would it even matter?"

"I'd still love him, if that's what you're asking." I say quietly.

"No, it's not. I'd still love him too. I will always love him, no matter what. You don't know how badly I wanted to hold him tonight and tell him it's all going to be ok. But I can't play this game anymore, letting him pretend he didn't do it, pretending to each other."

"He's not pretending." I snap. "He didn't do this. I know he didn't do this."

"No, you don't!"

"No one can sustain that level of deception."

"Of course he could. You, of all people, should know that."

"And there it is." I say with a sigh. "We finally get to the real problem. You've been silent on it for weeks, why should I think you could actually focus on the more pressing problems?" She looks at me desperately. "Yeah. Yeah, of course. He learned it from me. Maybe he learned it from watching his dad flounder around, trying to figure out how to tell his mom that he wasn't happy anymore." She chokes on a sob. "What do you want me to say, Laurie? You're right. Between keeping what my father was a secret from both of you and my affair, our marriage is a lie. Our whole fucking family is based on a fairytale, built on nothing. Our son's a murderer and I'm having a baby with the girl next door. Is this all what you wanted to hear?" I ask before turning and walking to the door.

"No. But that doesn't mean it isn't true." I hear her say before I close the door behind myself.

I cross the front yard, to Celeste's door. There's not point in hiding anymore. I raise my hand to knock and before I can make contact, she opens it. "Andy! What're you doing here?"