When Sadie, Lori, and their husbands head out for a weekend getaway to celebrate a birthday, Lori’s husband, Ben, hints to Sadie that he’s keeping a secret. Sadie wrestles with the decision of whether to keep his secret or tell her best friend—wondering if some secrets are better left unsaid.
Sadie and I have been best friends since high school, growing up and evolving side-by-side. To my family, Lori was like another daughter.
“Will Lori be joining us for dinner tonight?” my mother would ask, almost every evening.
Our bond deepened over the years, and so did our lives; we even ended up marrying two best friends, Benjamin and Keith. Oddly enough, I always thought I’d end up with Ben. But in the end, it was Keith who stole my heart, and Lori found her soulmate in Benjamin.
Being part of each other’s lives at every stage, we served as each other’s maids of honor, forever weaving our lives tighter together. Now, the four of us do nearly everything as a group—from birthdays to holiday getaways. So, for Keith’s birthday, we rented a cozy chalet for a small celebration away from home.
“Sadie, you handle the booking; Ben and I will take care of the food,” Lori had said as we planned the trip. It was perfect—a weekend retreat with no responsibilities and plenty of laughs.
When the day came, we arrived at the chalet early, bringing enough food to feed an army, even though we’d only be staying a couple of nights. After settling in and raising a glass to Keith, we began celebrating. As the evening wore on, Benjamin, having indulged a bit, wandered out onto the balcony with me.
“You know, Sadie,” he slurred slightly, “I’ve been working on a surprise for Lori. But you can’t tell her.”
My curiosity piqued, I pressed him to continue.
“It’s been tough keeping this under wraps… hiding bottles and all.”
“Bottles?” I asked, confused.
“Oh, you know,” he muttered, before drifting off, the alcohol starting to take hold.
Knowing how sensitive Lori was about alcohol—given her father’s struggles with it—this talk of “bottles” left me uneasy. Lori and Ben rarely drank outside of social gatherings, so I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. I spent the rest of the night torn, debating whether I should mention it to Lori.
When Keith and I finally retired for the night, I brought it up.
“Do you think Ben was serious?” I asked.
Keith shrugged. “He was pretty tipsy, Sadie. Could’ve been anything.”
Still, a nagging feeling gnawed at me. If I said nothing and something went wrong, I’d never forgive myself.
The next morning, while Lori and I were out for coffee, I told her everything Ben had said. She listened, nodding thoughtfully.
“Are you sure he said ‘bottles’?” she asked.
“Yes, but maybe it’s nothing. I just thought you should know—especially with your dad around.”
Lori seemed less fazed than I expected, though a hint of worry clouded her eyes. As we returned to the chalet, she shrugged it off, but I couldn’t help feeling a weight lift from sharing my concerns.
Later that day, as we packed up to leave, Lori was quiet, and I couldn’t shake the sense that something was left unresolved.
The next day, a cryptic message from Lori arrived on my phone: You saved my life. Call you later.
When she finally called, her voice shook as she explained. Feeling uneasy, she’d left work for an early lunch and returned home, hoping to uncover whatever Ben had been hiding. As soon as she stepped inside, she was met with the overwhelming scent of gas; in their rush that morning, neither she nor Ben had checked the stove. If she’d come home later or turned on a burner, the house could have ignited.
“Can you imagine, Sadie?” she whispered. “If I hadn’t been looking, if I hadn’t been there…”
I felt a chill run down my spine.
“Did you find the bottles?” I asked, hesitant.
“Yes,” she replied. “But they weren’t what I thought.” Lori explained that they were vintage perfume and decorative bottles that Ben had hidden behind towels in their linen closet.
As it turned out, Ben had secretly been collecting antique perfume bottles to gift Lori, planning a surprise trip to Paris for their anniversary. The bottles were part of a romantic gesture; he’d been selling off parts of his antique collection to fund the trip, intending to present her with one of her favorite vintage perfume bottles before surprising her with Paris.
Embarrassed, I felt a pang of guilt for doubting Ben’s intentions, but at the same time, a deep sense of relief that I had trusted my instincts. Lori later reassured me she never told Ben I was the one who warned her; she simply said she stumbled upon them while doing laundry.
Now, as Lori and Ben prepare for Paris, Keith and I have a friendly wager on whether they’ll invite us along.
But even after everything, I still wonder—was I wrong to tell her?
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