Mary Margaret was standing at the top of a stepladder when she heard someone say her name.
Startled, she nearly fell from the ladder, but she caught herself by reaching for the tree trunk in front of her. She twisted to see him.
— Oh, David, — she said, feeling a sudden and inexplicable sadness, looking into his eyes. Seeing his face was like looking directly into an unsolvable problem. — You shouldn’t have come.
— There was no one at the party I wanted to see, — he said.
She climbed down the ladder and crossed the yard.
— You’re married, — she said, once she’d gotten to him. — We can’t do this. It’s — it doesn’t make any sense. — She nearly laughed at this last word, but he didn’t seem to find it funny. But it was the truth. More than anything, she just didn’t understand any of it. Including her own feelings.
— That doesn’t matter, — he said, taking her hands. She resisted, but he held them. — Look, listen to me. I know, I get it. I was in a coma, I had this whole other life, but you — There’s just something, Mary Margaret. We both feel it. I don’t know what kind of person I used to be, but I know who I am right now. I’m a person who trusts his heart. And my heart’s telling me that my authentic life, that my real life, is somehow over here. Not back there.
Tears welled up in her eyes, and she felt herself smiling a worried little smile.
Then she pulled her hands away.
— I think it’s simpler, David, — she said. — I think it’s just that I happened to save you. That’s all. The feeling will go away.
She turned and retreated to her back door.
Emma came home to find Mary Margaret abusing the kitchen with a scrub pad and pulled her away to calm down, talk it through, and have a drink. Mary Margaret obliged and told her about David’s visit to the yard. She admitted that she’d been tempted, that she felt something as well.
— He’s married, — Emma cautioned. — His life is a mess. It’s not the right time, Mary Margaret. You can’t get involved.
— I know that, — she said quietly. — So I told him to go.
— That’s good, — Emma said. — It might not feel good now, but that’s good. I think you know deep down that something isn’t right, that your conscience doesn’t like it. Trust that. Trust yourself.
Mary Margaret did not sleep well and dreamt of the toll bridge, where they’d found David, dreamt of him facedown in the water. Over and over again, she saw him rolling upright, saw herself placing her lips on his lips. When she awoke, it was light and she heard birds cheeping outside. She felt unrested and considered calling in sick. Instead she pulled herself from her bed, got dressed, and went to the diner.
She soon wished she hadn’t. She ran into Dr. Whale at the door.
He really was an unlikable man — she’d always thought it. Handsome enough, sure, but obviously smug. And smarmy, too. The kind of person you wouldn’t want your daughter dating.
His eyes lit up and locked with hers before she could brush by him and go to a table. He touched her arm, which she pulled away.
— Mary Margaret, — he said, sounding contrite. — I’ve been wanting to talk to you. I hope your resignation from the volunteer staff didn’t have anything to do with our date.
His narcissism came close to making her laugh, but she kept a straight face.
— It’s very boorish of me not to have called you, I know, — he said. — I apologize. If you’d ever like to go out again, you have my number. — He left the diner, oblivious to her very different interpretation of the night in question.
She couldn’t quite laugh it off, though. When she was alone in a booth with her hot chocolate, Mary Margaret’s mood sank down a few more notches as she wondered what life in this town really held for her. How had she gotten to where she was? It was as if her whole history weren’t quite real, even though she was always the first to take responsibility for her actions, for her choices…
— Hello, Ms. Blanchard.
Mary Margaret looked up and was surprised to see Regina standing at her table.
— May I join you for a moment? — Regina asked. — This really won’t take very long. — She slid in across from Mary Margaret. — It’s about my friend. Kathryn.
Regina let this sink in.
Mary Margaret, for her part, tried not to reveal anything. But she knew what was coming and quietly braced herself.
— I didn’t know Mrs. Nolan was your friend, — she said.
— I don’t know what you’re trying to do, but it’s never wise to put ‘home wrecker’ on your resume, Mary Margaret, — Regina said. — Especially in a small town. Things can get very uncomfortable, very quickly.
Eyes wide, Mary Margaret could think of nothing to say.
— Don’t play dumb with me, Miss Blanchard, — Regina said. — David left his wife last night. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?
— No, — she said. — I wouldn’t.
And she thought: He left her?
— I’m sure you wouldn’t — Regina said. — Kathryn is devastated. You and I both know he is a confused man who hasn’t yet remembered who he is. Why don’t you do everyone a favor, go back to your mousy little existence, and give a healing couple the space they deserve?
Not waiting for a response, Regina slid from the booth, straightened her power suit, and strode out of the diner, heels clicking the whole way.
But there was no sign of him. Peace and quiet. Nothing happened. Mary Margaret began to believe it was all finally fading, and that life would move forward, back to normal.
Then on a Wednesday morning, hallway through the day, she looked through the window beside her classroom’s door.
David was outside her classroom, peering in at her, waving for her to come outside.
Her students were all reading silently, and she sighed, stood from her desk, and walked out of the room.
— What are you doing here? — she whispered, not bothering to conceal her anger. — You can’t just come here.
— I can’t stop thinking about you, — he said. — I left Kathryn. I didn’t choose her. I think we should be together. — He spoke directly, deliberately. Mary Margaret was taken aback by his frankness. How had so much happened in so short a time?
— This is crazy, — she said. — You have to go.
— Is it crazy? — he asked. — Don’t you feel it as well? Answer me that.
Mary Margaret could only look back at him.
— Listen, — he said. — You don’t have to decide anything right now. Just meet me tonight. Near the bridge where you found me. If you think this can work, meet me there at nine o’clock. I’ll be waiting. — David smiled. — If you meet me, we’ll just go from there.
Mary Margaret said, — Go.
— Meet me tonight.
— I can’t.
— Just think about it, — David said. — Just think. That’s all I ask.
Against her better judgment, she did think about it. She thought about it that whole day, during class, and she thought about it as she walked from the school to the police station. She asked Emma for her advice, and Emma surprised her by telling her she should go to meet David. It was one thing for him to show up outside of her house; it was another thing entirely to leave Kathryn. That made all the difference, apparently. Emma said he had made a choice; he was committed. Maybe it was time for her to make a choice as well.
— None of it feels based on anything, — Mary Margaret said.
— Yeah, but love never makes sense, — Emma responded. — It’s never based on something. Not on something you can see right away, at least.