Page 83 of A River of Crows

“Well, actually,” she said, forcing the smile off her face, “Ridge didn’t fall. Jay did that to him.”

Caroline woke with a start the next morning. The sun shining through her curtains meant she had overslept. She needed to wake the kids and get them ready for school.

She sat up and immediately regretted it as blood rushed to her already pounding head. “Ow,” she groaned, falling back onto her pillow.

“Are you awake?”

Caroline raised her head and saw Libby standing in the doorway, wearing an apron and holding a wooden spoon. “Did the kids get on the bus?” Caroline asked.

“Yes. Now get up. I’m scrambling eggs.”

Caroline pulled the pillow over her head. “My brain is scrambled eggs.”

“You had a lot to drink,” Libby said. “Do you even remember?”

Caroline tried to recall the night before. The details were foggy, but she remembered flour, handprints, spilled wine, and a lie. “A little,” she answered, sitting up in bed. She noticed her clean pajamas. “Thanks for hosing me off.”

“Pantry is cleaned up, too. Not much was salvageable, so we’ll have to make a grocery run before the kids get home.” Libby flipped the light on. “Get up.”

Caroline didn’t argue. She dragged herself out of bed and to the kitchen table. “Coffee.” She made the word a sentence.

Libby pushed an already-filled cup toward her, along with two aspirin. Caroline put the pills in her mouth and let them dissolve for a second on her tongue before taking a sip of her coffee. The pills tasted bitter; the coffee tasted bitter; everything inside Caroline was bitter.

“So . . .” Libby sat in the chair across from Caroline. “What really happened to Ridge?”

He slipped on the floor. Caroline should just say it. Tell the truth. She was drunk last night. Libby wouldn’t hold anything she’d said against her.

Caroline, however, held something against Libby. She’d defended Jay. Defended his right to see Sloan and Ridge when he’d voluntarily missed half their lives. How many times had he claimed to be away on business when he was actually going back to his real family in Tyler? And now, he’d want to take her children with him. If her best friend thought he deserved to see Sloan and Ridge, so would a judge.

“Jay did it,” she said, looking Libby in the eyes. “Jay hurts him a lot. Still think he’s some polygamist dad of the year?”

“He did it in one of his flashbacks.” Libby made it a statement rather than a question. Libby’s blind faith turned Caroline’s stomach. Jay hadn’t only charmed her; he’d charmed everyone into believing he was a good man. He’d cast a spell on them so strong that even when faced with proof that he was a terrible human being, they justified and defended him.

“No!” Caroline slammed her palms into the table. “Not a flashback. Jay doesn’t have flashbacks.”

“But—”

“I made that up,” Caroline said. “I knew you’d notice the bruises and had to think of something.”

Libby’s gaze clouded. “Jay’s been abusing you? All this time?”

“Yeah,” Caroline said. And he had. Emotional abuse was abuse, maybe the most dangerous kind.

“I’m so sorry.” Libby covered her mouth. “I never suspected. When did this start?”

Caroline tucked her hair behind her ear and looked Libby right in the eye. “Well, for Ridge, it all started a few weeks ago when Jay got angry and threw him against the wall . . .”

When the phone rang late that night, Caroline knew who it was. When Jay called, it was always late, long after the kids had gone to bed, sometimes even after Caroline had. She always imagined him lying in his hotel bed, fighting off sleep just long enough to make sure hers was the last voice he heard. But now she realized he was probably sneaking out of Anna’s bed to call Caroline. And if he was sneaking away from Anna to call her, he was sneaking away from her to call Anna.

“I can’t talk to him,” Caroline said.

“Okay, should I just let it ring or—”

“He’ll keep calling. Answer and come up with an excuse.”

Libby sighed but answered the phone. Caroline listened as Libby explained that she was staying over to help with the kids since Caroline wasn’t feeling well. Caroline could hear the concern in Jay’s voice on the other side of the line. It was almost convincing.

“Thank you,” she said when Libby hung up the phone.