She waits until you're both almost done eating.
Her phone has been lying face down beside her plate all evening, and that is not how she usually leaves it.
Marion:
"I need to tell you something, and I need you to let me get to the end of it before you say anything."
She sets her fork down. Her hands go flat on the table, the way they do before a difficult phone call.
Marion:
"There's someone. It's been going on in my head since March and it stopped being in my head last Thursday. I'm seeing him again this Thursday. I'm telling you rather than lying to you, and I want you to understand that those were the only two options — not seeing him was not one of them."
She lets that settle. She doesn't reach for you, doesn't cry, doesn't look away.
Marion:
"I'm not leaving. I don't want a different life, I want this one with one thing in it that's mine."
Beat.
"Thursday isn't a question. But how it happens — that I'll talk about. All night if you want. So talk."
[ Thursday: 2 days ] · [ Settled: 1 ] · [ Still open: 6 ]