Chapter 3 - Kendra’s Backup Plan
Meredith was awake when Graham called at 1:14 a.m.
She did not answer.
He called again.
Then a third time.
Elaine appeared at the bedroom door.
“You don’t have to talk to him.”
“I know.”
Meredith watched Graham’s name disappear from the screen.
A message arrived.
You were right. It’s worse than I knew.
She stared at it without responding.
Another followed.
But what I did is still mine. I’m not asking you to forgive me.
That sentence surprised her.
For months, every argument with Graham had become a courtroom where both of them tried to prove who had been injured first.
This was different.
Then came a screenshot.
Her own message from August.
I need you tonight. Please come home.
Underneath it:
Deleted 5:19 p.m.
Meredith sat upright.
She remembered that night.
It had been the anniversary of their second miscarriage.
She had bought groceries to make Graham’s favorite pasta because she could not bear another silent evening.
Then Kendra called.
Graham was supposedly helping her through a panic attack after a breakup.
Meredith had said she understood.
At 11:30, Graham came home smelling faintly of Kendra’s perfume.
He said they had only talked.
Apparently that had been a lie too.
Meredith closed the screenshot.
Her daughter shifted.
She whispered, “Your father is an idiot.”
For the first time all night, Elaine laughed from the doorway.
Meredith almost did too.
Almost.
At 8:00 the next morning, Graham was outside Kendra’s apartment.
She opened the door wearing sweatpants and one of his old Columbia University shirts.
Seeing it now made him ashamed.
“You shouldn’t have come.”
“I need your laptop.”
Kendra folded her arms.
“No.”
“Then tell me the truth.”
“I already have.”
“You admitted interfering.”
“I admitted helping two people who were destroying each other.”
“You impersonated my wife.”
Kendra’s expression tightened.
“You don’t know that.”
“The message came from an iPad you had access to.”
“That proves nothing.”
“Then show me your messages.”
“No.”
Graham nodded.
That answer told him enough.
He turned to leave.
“Wait.”
He stopped.
Kendra’s confidence cracked.
“What happens now?”
“That depends on what you mean.”
“To us.”
“There is no us.”
Her face changed.
“Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Pretend Thanksgiving changed everything. You told Meredith you chose me.”
“I did.”
“You held my hand.”
“I did.”
“You said you loved me.”
Graham looked at her.
“And I was wrong.”
Kendra slapped him.
The sound cracked through the hallway.
Graham did not move.
Tears filled her eyes.
“I gave you everything.”
“No. You stole choices from both of us.”
“And what about the nights you came here willingly?”
“I own those.”
His voice remained quiet.
“That’s why this isn’t about getting Meredith back. I may never get her back.”
Kendra stared at him.
That possibility seemed to disturb her more than his rejection.
Then Graham noticed a familiar leather folder on the kitchen counter.
Meredith’s.
He had bought it for her when she started her interior-design company.
“What is that?”
Kendra moved quickly.
Too quickly.
Graham stepped past her.
“Don’t.”
He opened the folder.
Inside were printed emails.
Bank statements.
Prenatal appointment schedules.
And a copy of Meredith’s temporary office lease.
Graham looked up.
“Why do you have these?”
Kendra’s face went pale.
“I was helping her.”
“With what?”
No answer.
Then Graham saw an envelope beneath the folder.
It was addressed to him.
The handwriting was Meredith’s.
He opened it.
The letter was dated four months earlier.
Graham,
I don’t know how to say this without sounding pathetic, but I miss my husband. I know we’ve hurt each other. I know losing the babies changed us. But Clara deserves parents who at least tried before giving up. I booked us two nights in Vermont next month. No phones. No Kendra. No work. Just us. If you don’t want to come, I’ll accept that. But I need the answer to come from you.
Graham stopped breathing.
“I never saw this.”
Kendra looked away.
“You weren’t going.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Yes, I do.”
“You never gave me the choice!”
His shout echoed down the corridor.
A door opened somewhere nearby.
Graham lowered his voice.
“Why is this here?”
Kendra began crying.
“Because you would have gone.”
The simplicity of the answer stunned him.
“You knew I would choose Meredith.”
“I knew you’d feel guilty.”
“No.”
Graham folded the letter carefully.
“You knew I still loved her.”
Kendra’s tears stopped.
For one moment, the mask disappeared.
What remained underneath was anger.
“She had everything.”
Graham stared at her.
“She had you. She had the house. She had your family. She got pregnant again. And somehow everyone was supposed to keep waiting for Meredith Lawson to decide when she was ready to live.”
“This wasn’t yours to take.”
“She didn’t appreciate you.”
“That wasn’t yours to decide either.”
Kendra laughed bitterly.
“And now what? You crawl back because she walked away?”
“No.”
Graham put Meredith’s letter inside his coat.
“I tell her the truth and accept whatever she decides.”
Kendra’s eyes narrowed.
“You think she’ll forgive you when she knows everything?”
Graham paused.
“What does that mean?”
Kendra smiled.
And Graham immediately knew there was another secret.
“What did you do?”
“You should ask your wife why she almost left you in June.”
Graham stepped toward her.
“What happened in June?”
But Kendra was smiling through her tears now.
“You don’t know.”
His stomach dropped.
“Kendra.”
“She never told you.”
“Tell me.”
“No.”
Graham’s phone rang.
Walter.
He answered.
His father sounded frightened.
“Graham, get to Westchester Medical.”
Everything inside him stopped.
“What happened?”
May you like
“Meredith’s having contractions.”
Graham was already running.
