***
The following morning, I knew I had to do something before I lost my mind.
So I decided to confirm things myself. I replayed the clip from Greenwood and cropped the smoothie bottle label. I then searched for the café where it had been bought. I also found a better photo of Lauren from the company website where they worked.
Then I drove to the café.
“You weren’t protecting me.”
***
A young cashier recognized Lauren immediately from the photo.
“She comes in here a lot,” he said casually. “Usually with that guy from the construction company.”
Mark.
Then the cashier added something else.
“That smoothie has yogurt and whole milk in it. We label it because of allergies.”
There it was, the final piece.
Maybe Lauren hadn’t intentionally hurt Ava, but Mark knew better.
And instead of checking the drink before handing it to our daughter, he’d been too distracted trying to keep two separate lives from colliding.
“She comes in here a lot.”
***
A week later, Lauren called and asked to meet me.
Part of me wanted to refuse, but I went.
The second she saw me, she started crying.
“Emily, I swear I didn’t know,” she kept repeating. “Mark never told me about the allergy.”
And strangely, I believed her.
