“So,” he says. “You’re not Katie?”
My head drops, but I push myself to my feet.
“Katie is my pen name.” Tears slip free. “My real name is Hazel.”
He doesn’t move, just stands. A wall goes up, dividing us, the stillness of someone bracing for impact.
“Are you even divorced?” he asks.
“What?”
“You heard me. Are you divorced?”
“Yes. I’m divorced.” Anger flashes hot. A rare burst of the old me, the one I hid. The one that was trampled on year after year, who finally broke free. “I got our house in the settlement. He wants his money. He’s a control freak, a narcissistic bastard.”
“What else is true?” His voice sharpens. Not cruel but wounded. I search his face for the man who held me less than an hour ago. He’s gone. In front of me is the professional and direct Major McDonald. Calm and clinical, not my Lance.
“I hate being lied to, Katie, or should I say, Hazel? Whoever you are. I want to know who I’ve been sharing my bed with for months.”
His words leave no room for debate. No space to hold the truth I’ve been burying. The silent ultimatum that if I don’t come clean, he’ll never trust me again.
So, I tell him everything. The whole sordid story.
For an hour, I unload years of pain. About my marriage to Knobscratcher. About his lack of support during my cancertreatment. About the ongoing emotional abuse. The gaslighting. The isolation. Everything. Re-living the hell that bastard put me through, beat by beat. Every truth adds a cut, slashing the happiness I’ve built since I left. Poisoning everything I’ve gained.
I’m transported back to that pathetic woman I was. The one I’ve been trying to outrun and forget. The woman who curled in the bathroom, locking the door, praying he wouldn’t break it down this time.
I watch Lance’s face harden, soften, and harden again, each story triggering a different expression. When I get to Bex, it shifts to sadness and compassion. He knows how much I miss my friend. We’ve talked of her often, how important our short friendship was to me.
But when I finish, his face is unreadable. Practically stone.
“So, yes,” I whisper. “My name is Hazel, but I only use Katie now. I never want to be Hazel again.” Tears stream down my cheeks. “I’m sorry, Lance. He ruined my life; I had to protect myself.”
He opens his mouth to speak. I hold up my hand.
It’s time.
This is the sign I’ve been waiting for. It’s the end for us.
“Now he’s found me, I need to leave Aviemore. He won’t stop.”
Lance’s eyes widen with panic; he tries and fails to hide.
“No,” he says. A simple word, but brutal.
“Lance… this isn’t up for debate.”
“No.” He steps closer. “You don’t get to decide this on your own. You don’t run away from me because he knocked on the door. You’re not that woman anymore.”
“This was just the beginning. He’ll be back.”
“Then let me protect you,” he snaps. His jaw ticks. “He doesn’t scare me. I won’t let him…”
“You don’t understand.”
He threads our fingers together, and pulls me to his chest. His warmth is so damn tempting; I want to collapse into his arms and let him protect me. But it took me so long to save myself, it feels like only I can.
“I understand he hurt you. I understand you’re scared. I understand you didn’t trust me with your name, but…” He presses my hand over his heart. It beats slow and steady beneath my fingertips. “I won’t be scared off. Not by him.”