The very next day, I’d just dropped Lily off at kindergarten when I turned around and saw Chloe, looking utterly haggard, her face pale and drawn, her expression crestfallen.
I frowned, a sigh of impatience escaping me. “Ms. Hamilton, is there anything else?”
Chloe’s eyes dimmed further. Her voice was raspy. “Caleb, I… I want to talk to you properly.”
! honestly wanted no further contact with her, but I knew that if I didn’t indulge her now, she’d only continue to pester me. So, I said, my tone brusque, “Say what you need to say here.” I didn’t even want to go to a coffee shop with her. It was my way of telling her: whatever it is, make it quick. Chloe clearly understood my unspoken message, and her expression grew even more despondent.
“Caleb, I came here today to apologize to you.” She wrung her hands. “I’ve asked Dylan, and he admitted… those thugs, they were all his own setup, hired to put on a show.”
I gave her a bitter, humorless smile. “It’s been five years, Chloe. What meaning does any of this have now?”
Seeing my utter indifference, Chloe’s face crumpled even further with regret. “Caleb, I truly am so, so sorry. I was… I was complete- ly deceived by Dylan back then. We grew up together. I never imagined that in a few years, he could become such a person.”
I scoffed. “Chloe, something you could figure out five years later? I find it hard to believe you couldn’t have figured it out back then. You just chose to believe Dylan, instead of me. Or, perhaps, you knew the truth back then and still chose to help him hide it, just like you helped him steal my thesis and publicly accused me of plagiarism.”
