Withered Leaves Drift onto the Windowsill

Every day after work, Paddy Simmons came home with a chilled dessert from that place on the east side of the city.

All because I'd mentioned once that I liked it.

He'd gone and bought a membership, three years' worth.

Today he was working late, and since I happened to be passing by, I figured I'd just pick it up myself.

I gave the membership name and phone number, and the clerk smiled as she confirmed it. "You're Miss Fox, right?"

I frowned. "Isn't there some mistake?"

Neither my boyfriend nor I had the last name Fox.

But the clerk said it with total confidence. "No mistake, Miss Fox. Your husband is one of our best customers."

"Last time we ran a membership promotion, he signed up for three whole years in one go, just to get that turquoise bracelet you had your eye on."

The more I heard, the more my stomach dropped.

I'm a materialistic person. My jewelry is either gold or silver, nothing else.

There was exactly one person I knew who liked turquoise. My best friend.

And she just happened to have the last name Fox.

"Miss Fox, your chilled dessert is ready. Please come again."

I carried the dessert out and walked back in a daze.

I tried to reassure myself. Maybe it was just a coincidence.

It was true that I liked the dessert.

And maybe that turquoise bracelet was just a giveaway he'd happened to receive.

Maybe Paddy knew I didn't care for it and had simply passed it along to Brooklyn Fox.

Thinking that way, I felt a little better.

It was still a while before dark, so I carried the dessert along, meaning to wander around the area a bit.

But I'd barely walked any distance when I looked up and suddenly saw Paddy.

He was gently peeling a shrimp for the girl across from him. "Here."

I rubbed my eyes, terrified I'd seen wrong.

But that familiar figure by the restaurant window, I'd know it even if it were reduced to ashes.

Even the white shirt and the dark navy tie he was wearing,

I'd picked out with my own hands before he left this morning.

Five minutes ago, he'd texted me saying he had to work overtime at the office for two more hours.

Told me to find something to eat while I was out, not to wait for him to come home and cook.

When I turned to look at the girl across from him, I froze even harder.

My best friend, Brooklyn.

I didn't think twice. I pushed the door open and walked right in.

Paddy looked a little startled when he saw me. He stood up. "Caroline?"

"What are you doing here?"

I stared into his eyes. "Didn't you say you were working late? Why are you here eating dinner."

Right in front of Brooklyn.

Paddy ruffled my hair without the slightest hesitation, a helpless look in his eyes.

"My little princess, I knew you'd ask that."

He pulled up his phone and showed me the work group chat.

"Half an hour ago, my boss sprang an off-site assignment on me, entertaining a partner company."

"Brooklyn is my client. Having dinner with her today is business, too."

As if worried I still wouldn't believe it, Brooklyn even pulled a contract out of her bag.

"Caroline, no need to overthink now, right?"

"If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have handed this collaboration to your husband so easily."

I stared at that contract, and above it Brooklyn's smile was flawless.

I knew exactly how good she was at her job.

Back when she was dating and ran into a cheating guy, she got caught by the man's actual girlfriend, who took her for the other woman.

To get out of it, she printed a contract in under five minutes and passed the whole thing off as a business collaboration, sailing right through.

The situation right now made it hard not to picture that scene.

"Caroline, don't just stand there."

Brooklyn pushed the contract into my hands. "Why don't you take a look first? We really are discussing a collaboration."

As she said it, she winked at me, looking utterly innocent.

I didn't look. I pushed the contract back.

The dessert had half melted in my grip, beads of water forming on the outside of the bag, dripping onto my fingers cold.

"You two talk. I'll head back first."

As I turned, Paddy called out to me. "I'll walk you out."

"No need. Don't let me hold up your business."

I walked out of that restaurant.

Paddy watched me close the door, and he really didn't chase after me. He sat back down.

Something was off.

The more I thought about it, the more off it felt.

Paddy had always been a man of careful boundaries, never mind my best friend Brooklyn.

Even meeting an ordinary woman, he'd report it to me.

If he really was having dinner with Brooklyn for work, then given the way he was, a man who photographed a stray dog on the street just to share it with me,

how could he not have mentioned a single word about it?

I didn't go home. I turned around and doubled back.

Back to that chilled dessert shop on the east side of the city.

"Hello..."

Still the same smiling clerk from before.

"Miss Fox, why are you back again? Was there something else you needed?"

I asked her, "Just now you said my husband signed up for a three-year membership here in one go... how did you know Paddy was my husband?"

When we were only boyfriend and girlfriend, not married yet.

The clerk paused, then smiled.

"Of course. Because claiming that turquoise bracelet requires seeing a marriage certificate."

"If you don't believe me, look. We still have the photo from last time here in the shop."

The clerk eagerly flipped through the album and found the photo from when Paddy claimed the turquoise bracelet.

When she saw the girl in it, she looked me over again, her face going awkward.

"Miss, you're... not the Miss Fox in the photo?"

The people in the photo were Paddy and Brooklyn, beaming radiantly at the camera.

I stared, hard, at the marriage certificate they were holding up in their hands.

"My name is Caroline Pruitt."

"Not Fox."

By the time I got home, the chilled dessert in my hand had melted completely.

I didn't want it anymore, so I dropped it straight into the trash.

I opened Brooklyn's social media. Mostly travel photos, nothing out of place.

Then something occurred to me, and I switched over to her secret account and scrolled through it.

Sure enough, I found a post about a turquoise bracelet.

It was on her pale wrist, and the caption was a single word: love it.

Among the people who'd liked it was Paddy.

And he was the first one.

I stared at that like for a long time, and something inside me sank lower and lower.

Paddy never liked anyone's posts, least of all a woman's.

His social media was dead water. Except for work, he never shared anything.

The selfies I sent him didn't even earn an emoji back. He'd only say "cute" to my face.

Yet he'd liked Brooklyn's turquoise bracelet.

My phone buzzed.

A message from Paddy: "You home yet? I just wrapped up. Want me to bring you some of those grilled skewers you love?"

I fought down the irritation and replied, "No need."

Twenty minutes later, the lock turned.

Paddy came in, a bag of skewers in his hand, still steaming.

"I knew you wouldn't have eaten."

He set the skewers on the coffee table and reached over to ruffle my hair. "What, are you mad?"

I said nothing, and he laughed and sighed.

"Knew it. My little princess is being paranoid again."

He wrapped his arms around me from behind, his warm breath tickling my neck.

"It really was just business. Brooklyn's company has a project, and they needed my side to work with them."

"She only picked me because of you, you know."

I turned to look at him. "Why would she pick you because of me?"

Paddy paused.

"Aren't you two best friends?"

"Best friends." I repeated the words and found them almost funny.

"And best friends get to take my boyfriend out to dinner alone?"

"Haven't I already told you? It was a work thing."

Something impatient crept into his eyes.

He leaned down, bringing his face close to mine. "Caroline, what's gotten into you today?"

I looked up at him.

Clear eyes, long lashes, soft features.

Just as handsome as the year we met in college.

And exactly like the man in that marriage certificate photo in the dessert shop's album.

A sharp ache went through my chest. I hadn't figured out yet how I wanted to face tearing everything open.

"Nothing." I stood up. "I'm going to shower."

The moment the hot water came down, I closed my eyes.

All I could see was that turquoise bracelet.

The next day, I went to Brooklyn's place.

Usually, whenever work wasn't busy for her, we'd make plans to watch a movie together on the weekend.

But when I thought about it, the last time we'd gotten together was half a year ago.

Lately she was always saying she was busy.

She'd also started seeing some mysterious boyfriend.

I'd dropped plenty of hints. "When are you going to bring this boyfriend around so we can get a look at him?"

She always said, "There'll be plenty of chances later."

All that hiding and dodging could only mean one thing.

That boyfriend was someone she couldn't bring in front of me out in the open.

When she saw it was me at the door, there was a flicker of surprise in her eyes.

"Caroline, what are you doing here?"

"What, are you so busy being a career woman now that you've got no room for your best friend?"

I smiled and stepped past her inside.

Brooklyn hesitated, then trailed after me, making idle conversation.

We'd known each other since college. Six years of it, close enough to pass for real sisters.

Which only made it harder to accept that she and Paddy had been keeping it from me.

"It's the weekend. Stop working for once. Let's go out and see a movie. Go make yourself presentable."

Brooklyn laughed and went off to shower and do her makeup, while I wandered around with nothing to do.

Until I reached her vanity.

I saw that pretty turquoise bracelet.

Right down to the smallest detail, it was identical to the one the dessert shop had shown me yesterday, the turquoise bracelet you got for buying a three-year membership.

I'd only just picked it up.

Before I could even get a good look, a hand snatched it away from me.

"Caroline, what are you doing?"

"Who said you could go touching my things?"

Brooklyn's usually flat face suddenly filled with panic and nerves.

Which only made everything look more suspicious to me.

"It's just a bracelet. Why are you so worked up?"

"I'm not worked up."

She tugged at the corner of her mouth, a smile that came out forced and guilty.

"I just bought it. Haven't even worn it in yet, so I don't want anyone touching it."

"Is that so."

"Yeah."

She pulled the drawer open, shoved the bracelet inside, and shut it again.

Fast, like she was afraid I'd take another look.

"Come on, I've already done my makeup. What's the holdup? Let's go catch the movie."

Brooklyn practically shoved me out, as if she couldn't stand me staying in her room a second longer.

The whole time we were at the movie, my mind was somewhere else.

Brooklyn's was too. Her phone kept lighting up, and she kept texting.

"Chatting with your boyfriend?"

The second I leaned in to peek, she clapped her hand over the screen. "Stop it, let a girl have some privacy."

She covered it fast, but I still saw.

That guy's profile picture, the match to my couple photo, was Paddy.

When I got home, Paddy was in the shower.

His phone was on the coffee table, and the screen lit up.

A message popped up. The contact name read "Brooke."

"Paddy, I think Caroline's getting suspicious. Be careful for a while. We should stop meeting."

In that moment, my heart went completely cold.

For the next few days I still kept trying to get Brooklyn to come out.

"Where are you? Let's grab lunch."

"Ah can't today, I'm stuck working late at the office, tons of stuff."

"Really?"

I glanced down at the time on my screen. "Then I'll come to you. Your office isn't far from me anyway."

Two seconds of silence on the other end.

"No, no need, I'll be done in a bit. Another day!"

"Brooklyn."

I said her full name, my voice going cold.

"Sneaking around with your best friend's boyfriend. Pretty exciting, isn't it?"

A few seconds of silence, then Brooklyn let out a cold laugh, done pretending.

"Caroline. Didn't think you'd actually figure it out."

"What, are you going to be like all those women and put on the whole scorned-wife-catches-the-other-woman act?"

Hearing her finally admit it, a chill ran through me.

"Brooklyn, we've known each other seven years."

"The year you got dumped, I climbed over the wall in the middle of the night to go drink with you, and the next day the counselor hauled me in to write an apology letter."

"When your cramps got so bad you couldn't get out of bed, I skipped class to go buy you brown sugar, and I came back to find you curled up in pain, and I held you and cried for ages."

"I always thought there was nothing we couldn't tell each other."

"But you knew Paddy and I had been together five years, you knew he was my boyfriend. Why did you have to go after him?"

"Brooklyn, tell me, it's not like every other man on earth is dead and gone!"

The more I said, the more I fell apart.

"Why did you have to go after Paddy?"

We were getting married next month. Everything had been moving toward something good.

And Brooklyn shattered it with her own hands, like a soap bubble.

Silence stretched on the other end.

Finally Brooklyn spoke.

"Caroline, don't you think you're wearing some seriously thick rose-tinted glasses when it comes to Paddy?"

"You think I'm the only one who seduced him, and he's completely innocent?"

She gave a cold laugh and sent me a hotel address, room 302.

"This hotel tonight. Remember to come take a look."

"For old times' sake,"

"I'll let you see your wonderful boyfriend's true face with your own eyes."

Unsettled, I waited until night.

I watched the sun sink bit by bit, watched the hour when Paddy usually got off work come and go, and still he didn't come home.

At eight, Paddy sent his check-in text.

"Sweet Caroline, working late again tonight."

Right after it came a transfer, 1314520.

"Buy yourself something to eat if you want. Be good."

I gripped my phone, looked up, and watched with my own eyes as Paddy walked into the very hotel Brooklyn had sent me.

When the light came on, I pulled down the brim of my cap and followed.

Through the door of room 302 came sounds, faint, blurred, impossible to make out.

Then a delivery guy knocked.

"Hi, your order of adult toys is here."

"Coming."

Paddy's voice. The handle turned, and I saw Paddy, bare from the waist up, come to take the delivery.

"Is this enough?"

My sudden voice froze him.

He looked up, saw it was me, and the color drained from his face.

"Caroline?! Why are you here?"

And me, I saw the hickey on his neck in one glance.

And through the gap in the door, I saw Brooklyn lying on the bed in nothing but a camisole.

I slapped him across the face.

"Paddy, is this how you treat me?"

"Caroline, don't do anything crazy!"

Paddy scrambled to grab my hands, but I'd already shoved past him, swinging my bag down onto Brooklyn.

"Brooklyn, you slut!"

"You made me come just so I could see the two of you like this, this filthy, this disgusting? You have no shame."

Brooklyn sat there calmly, a cigarette between her fingers, smiling at me.

"Caroline, how about it? Not disappointed, are you?"

I lost it completely.

I lunged to hit her, but Paddy caught my wrist.

"Caroline, can you calm down?"

It was the first time the three of us had ever sat at the same table with the air this heavy.

Paddy had put on that shirt, the one covered in lipstick marks.

Brooklyn had stubbed out her cigarette too.

And I sat by the balcony in silence, my voice cold as I demanded answers.

"Talk. When exactly did the two of you start?"

Paddy was quiet for a long time, then let out a sigh.

"The truth is, Caroline, Brooklyn and I knew each other before you."

I froze. "What did you say?"

"You two became best friends in college, but she and I go back to high school."

He lifted his head and looked at me. "She was my first love."

Something churned violently in my stomach.

Paddy's eyes were the picture of sincerity.

"I never meant to hide it from you. I just didn't know how to bring it up."

"She and I had already broken up by the time I met you in college."

"Caroline, you were so wonderful. You made my heart race. After we got together, you were the only person I loved."

Nausea rose in my throat.

"And yet you still ended up in bed together?"

Paddy didn't argue. He lowered his head in silence.

"I just never imagined fate could be this cruel. Of all the twists and turns, you and Brooklyn became best friends."

"Brooklyn and I broke up ages ago. Everything I've had to do with her since has only ever been because of you."

Listening to his lies, so earnest, I let out a cold laugh.

"All because of me?"

"Going to the county clerk's office and registering a marriage with Brooklyn, that was because of me too?"

"Paddy, how much longer do you plan to keep lying to me?"

Paddy's head jerked up, stunned. "You already know?"

He whipped around to Brooklyn. "You told Caroline?"

"It wasn't me." Brooklyn sighed. "Paddy, I told you a long time ago. You can't keep a lid on something like this forever."

I closed my eyes in despair. He'd admitted it with his own mouth.

Our wedding was next month.

Both sets of parents had already met.

I'd thought our marriage would go off without a hitch. I never dreamed Paddy was already a married man.

I was the only outsider here. What was left to face down? I picked up my bag and turned to leave the hotel.

But Paddy came after me.

"Caroline, let me explain."

He was visibly panicking.

"Brooklyn only came to me for help so she could deal with her family. That's the only reason we got that certificate."

"We already agreed. The moment she gets through it on her end, we'll go straight to the county clerk's office for a divorce. No one will ever know, no one will find out..."

"Besides, it's just a piece of paper. You never cared about that either, did you?"

I almost laughed at how righteous he sounded.

I didn't care.

Because our love didn't need a piece of paper to hold it together.

But that didn't mean he got to go register a marriage with someone else on a whim.

"Fine, Paddy. So registering a marriage is that simple in your eyes. I guess I was the one overthinking it."

If it was that simple.

Then me getting that marriage certificate with someone else shouldn't be a problem either, right?

But hearing me say that, Paddy's tone finally softened.

He thought I'd come around.

"Good girl, Caroline. I knew you were reasonable. I knew you'd never hold a little thing like this against me."

"Don't worry, I've already booked the appointment to file for divorce with Brooklyn."

"It absolutely won't get in the way of our wedding next month."

Seeing me stay silent, he added one more gentle line.

"I promise you, after tonight I'll never have anything to do with Brooklyn again. I swear it."

But a man with no honesty.

His oath was no different from a dog barking.

After Paddy turned and left, I dialed a number.

"Are you free tomorrow? Come register a marriage with me."

The next day, the moment I finished at the clerk's office, I announced it on social media.

Plenty of mutual friends left comments and congratulations.

Some even called Paddy directly.

"Paddy, look at you. Didn't you say the wedding was next month, that you weren't registering until the end of the year?"

"Locking down the campus beauty of Pruitt University this fast, can we start calling her Mrs. Simmons early?"

Paddy's grip tightened around his phone. "What registration?"