They settled into a metal table and chairs along the street, confections in tow. Kenna stared at the contents of her paper bowl. Cookies served as the bread in the apparent sandwich and the ice cream as the filling. Rather than make a fool of herself by asking Audrey what it was, she thanked her and took a tentative bite.
It was the purest act of hedonism she’d yet experienced. The gooey chocolate of the warm cookie, the chill of the creamy mint ice cream.
“Wow.”
“Lenny’s is the best around,” she conceded. “He and I used to come here a lot, actually. He’d order oatmeal raisin with pistachio.”
“That’s vile.”
Audrey fought off a smile but was ultimately unsuccessful. And in her failure to suppress it, Kenna lumped her in with all of the other women with whom she’d spoken.
She envied them, in a way.
What memories of her time with Dayton did she have to look back on with any degree of fondness? It occurred to her then, perhaps for the first time, that she was destined to fill a much different role in his life.
One that boasted a higher degree of permanence.
Eating her dessert and staring across the table at yet another woman Dayton had wronged, she wasn’t entirely sure she wanted to fill that role.
“Regular ice cream outings sounds more serious than a one-night stand.” It sounded juvenile to her own ears but Kenna wasn’t sure how to broach the conversation. She fiddled with her St. Rose bracelet, suddenly unsure of herself.
“We were engaged, briefly.”
Her stomach bottomed out and she was featherlight, gutted of everything—so why did she feel so heavy? Leaden.
No man nor natural disaster could’ve evicted her from the chair. Nausea swelled within her, that bubbling elixir, as she came to terms with the fact that she was looking at the woman who was meant to have been Dayton’s wife.
Even in her head, it was ludicrous to juxtapose the marital title with his name. He was unfit for marriage.
“You were together for …” She let the question hang, unfinished. A dark part of her didn’t want an answer.
Audrey’s gaze fell to the tabletop.
“Two years. I’d like to think we wouldn’t have lasted as long if I’d caught on to his behavior. He was always good at hiding his habit.” She covered her mouth. There it was. The first sign of her composure wavering. “Watch out for that. You think you know him and then …”
His habit of photographing sleeping women in their underwear, she wanted to mockingly ask. But she was there to collect rather than reveal information.
Besides, it was clear what Audrey had meant.
Carmen had no trouble disclosing her brother’s penchant for infidelity, and from what Kenna had gathered of his sexual habits, he more than likely hadn’t had many relationships.
“He cheated on you.” Her intonation made it a statement, not a question.
“Has it happened to you too?”
She didn’t think Audrey would consent to meeting a total stranger so she had introduced herself as Dayton’s girlfriend during their social media exchange and, while it was a departure from the truth, she thought for the purpose of extracting information it was best to adopt a label.
“No, but I wouldn’t put it past him.”
“A healthy dose of suspicion is good in any relationship. My mom always said that, after I started dating, anyway.” Smiling wistfully, she wrapped her arms over her chest, as if shielding herself from more unpleasant memories. “I didn’t suspect a thing. No red flags. He was so nice, so charming.”
Regrettable nostalgia bathed Audrey’s sun-kissed face, giving her the likeness of one of those women in true crime documentaries who carried on a functional relationship with someone who turned out to be a sociopath.
Those women were victims, too, not of the crime but of the compartmentalization.
* * *
Audrey insisted that she come to her condo in Silver Lake, assuring her that they could carry on their conversation more comfortably there. Kenna took this as a good sign. In the span of their outing, Audrey must have determined she wasn’t a threat and she was counting on that trust. She’d cup it in her palm like a vulnerable seed, shielding it from storms until it grew to its full potential.