The Muse's Undoing

“I need to make another call,” I say. “I’ll get back to you. Don’t agree to anything.”

“Do not contact her,” my attorney warns.

“I’m not,” I say. “I’m calling my sister.”

“Fine. I’ll wait to hear from you. But you let me handle Nicole.”

“Thank you. I will,” I choke out before ending the call and pulling up Maggie’s number.

Taking a deep breath doesn’t stop my hand from shaking. I grip the phone harder and put the call through.

“Hello,” Maggie answers the phone curtly.

“Is there something you need to say to me?” I ask.

“What do you mean?”

I pick up a pen with my other hand for no reason and work to keep my voice level. “Did you speak to anyone after we saw you on Friday?”

“If you’re asking whether I talked to Nicole, yes. I did. She and I talk a few times a week, and I assumed she knew about you and my brother since her kid stays with you. I wasn’t trying to out you or whatever. Why? Is she upset?”

I close my eyes at this barrage of information, all of it wrong in some way or another. When I’m positive I won’t shout, I speak. “She’s suing for full custody of Vaughn.”

“Oh.”

“Oh? That’s what you have to say? What the fuck did you tell her?”

“I didn’t tell her anything. I asked if she always knew you were bi. I was curious.”

What the fuck? Who does that? “Why would you ask her that?”

“I don’t know. Maybe because I’m getting married, and I don’t want to get blindsided, so I wanted to know if that was something she knew before she married you or if it came out later.”

“So, because you all of a sudden don’t trust your fiancé, you just decided to have a casual conversation about my sexuality with my ex-wife?”

“In fairness, we talk about a lot of things. She’s gonna be in the wedding, Fischer. We’re close.”

I’m so angry. It’s taking every molecule of my self-control to stay on this call to find out what I need to know. “Did you tell her about Matthew and me?”

“No.”

“No?”

“She asked,” Maggie says, and it feels like a grenade going off.

My ears ring in the wake of the explosion. I don’t understand. “What did she ask?”

“I guess while you’ve been screwing my brother you’ve also been screwing Ravenna Gallo?”

The question knocks the wind out of me.

She lets out an exasperated breath. “Ravenna saw you two in a mailroom or something? And your apartment?”

Jesus Christ.

“So Nicole asked if I ever saw you two together around Vaughn. She also asked if…well, if Vaughn had ever mentioned whether he didn’t want to go home with you for any reason.”

“Has he?” I ask, my stomach sick, my mind flashing back to Vaughn almost walking in on Matthew and me.