Chương 5
The house looked exactly as it had that morning.
Daniel’s coffee mug sat in the dishwasher.
His running shoes were near the mudroom bench.
A jacket hung over the back of a kitchen chair because no number of hooks had ever convinced him that chairs were not storage devices.
Leo saw the jacket.
“Is Dad coming home?”
“No.”
“When?”
“I don’t know.”
“You said he lives here.”
“He did.”
Leo frowned.
The tense had reached him.
Claire went upstairs.
She entered the bedroom and stopped.
Daniel’s side of the bed was unmade.
A navy sweater lay on the floor.
His charging cable was plugged into the wall.
Claire stood there for perhaps thirty seconds before walking to the closet.
She did not throw his clothes outside.
She wanted to.
That frightened her.
She wanted an action large enough to fit what he had done.
Instead she found two empty plastic storage bins in the basement, carried them upstairs, then sat on the bedroom floor because her knees had begun to shake.
Nora arrived forty minutes later with groceries no one had asked for.
She was thirty-three, shorter than Claire, dark-haired, and incapable of entering a crisis without bringing food.
“I got rotisserie chicken,” she said from the doorway.
Claire stared at her.
Nora set the bags down.
“And cookies.”
Claire started crying.
It was the first time.
She hated it immediately.
“Okay,” Nora said.
“Don’t.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You made the face.”
“What face?”
“The sympathetic face.”
“This is my regular face.”
“It’s not.”
Nora took off her coat.
“I also have toilet paper.”
Claire laughed through her tears.
“There. Much better face.”
Owen came into the kitchen.
“Dad has another wife.”
Nora looked at him.
Claire held her breath.
Nora had always been dangerous in direct proportion to how much she loved someone.
She crouched.
“I heard something happened.”
“He told her Mom died.”
Nora’s eyes flicked toward Claire.
Owen continued.
“He said me and Leo were his nephews.”
Nora’s mouth opened.
Claire said, “Nora.”
Her sister closed it.
Owen watched both of them.
“Is he a bad person?”
Nora looked at Claire again.
This time Claire gave her nothing.
Nora sat on the floor so she and Owen were level.
“I think your dad did something very bad.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
“I know.”
Claire nearly smiled despite herself.
Apparently that particular cruelty was hereditary.
Nora said, “People can do bad things and still be people you love. Which is really annoying.”
Owen considered this.
“Mom said she doesn’t know if she wants him to go to jail.”
Nora stood.
“Your mom is having a big day.”
That evening Daniel came to the house.
Claire saw his headlights through the front window.
She had changed the keypad code at Nora’s insistence and then felt guilty, which irritated her enough to make her change it a second time.
Daniel tried the old code.
The lock beeped.
He tried again.
Claire stood in the hallway and listened.
Then he knocked.
Owen appeared at the top of the stairs.
“Go to your room.”
“No.”
“Owen.”
“I want to hear.”
“Go upstairs.”
“It’s about me too.”
Claire closed her eyes.
Nora, who had stayed for dinner and then conveniently become interested in reorganizing Claire’s refrigerator, leaned against the kitchen doorway.
“He’s not wrong.”
“Please don’t help.”
“Sorry.”
Claire opened the door but left the chain on.
Daniel looked terrible.
That gave her less satisfaction than she wanted.
His travel jacket was wrinkled. His hair had lost its careful shape. He carried no suitcase.
“Where are your bags?”
“At the airport hotel.”
“Why?”
“I got a room.”
“You could have gone to Vanessa.”
His eyes lowered.
“She won’t answer me.”
Nora made a sound from the kitchen.
Daniel heard.
“Is Nora here?”
“Yes.”
“Can we talk without an audience?”
“No.”
His jaw moved.
“Claire.”
“You don’t get private access to me because you prefer it.”
He looked past her into the house.
“Are the boys okay?”
“No.”
“I need to see them.”
Owen spoke from the stairs.
“I’m right here.”
Daniel looked up.
His face broke.
“Hey, buddy.”
“Don’t call me that.”
Daniel flinched.
Claire had never seen Owen hurt him before.
Owen came down three steps.
“Did you tell her we were your nephews?”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Owen, this is adult stuff.”
“That’s a yes.”
“No, it’s complicated.”
“That’s what you said at the airport.”
Nora muttered, “Kid’s taking notes.”
Claire shot her a look.
Nora raised both hands.
Daniel put his fingers through his hair.
“I made mistakes.”
Owen stared at him.
“You got married by mistake?”
“No.”
“Then stop saying mistakes.”
The hallway went silent.
Claire turned.
“Owen. Upstairs.”
He looked ready to argue.
She pointed.
This time he went.
Daniel watched until he disappeared.
“You let him talk to me like that?”
Claire almost opened the door just so she could slam it.
Instead she said, “You told a woman he was your nephew.”
Daniel looked ashamed.
For half a second she saw the man she had married.
Then he said, “I didn’t know how else to explain the pictures.”
The resemblance vanished.
Nora laughed in disbelief.
Claire unclipped the chain but did not move aside.
“Five minutes.”
Daniel stepped into the hallway.
Nora remained in the kitchen.
“Seriously?” he asked.
“She stays.”
He looked at Claire.
“Fine.”
They went into the dining room.
Claire sat at one end of the table.
Daniel sat opposite.
Nora stood by the doorway.
Daniel looked at her.
Nora smiled.
“I’m decorative.”
Claire rubbed her forehead.
“Talk.”
Daniel exhaled.
“I met Vanessa two and a half years ago.”
Claire’s stomach tightened.
“Where?”
“Seattle.”
“You told me that trip was for the Sullivan account.”
“It was.”
“Did you sleep with her then?”
“No.”
“Next trip?”
“No.”
“When?”
“Three months later.”
Claire nodded once.
Daniel continued.
“I never planned this.”
“Excellent beginning.”
“I’m not asking you to understand.”
“Good.”
“It became something.”
Claire waited.
May you like
Daniel looked at the table.
“I told her I was widowed.”
