Chương 5
Claire already tense from the contractor call.
Noah nearby.
A question asked at exactly the wrong moment.
Daniel opened his eyes.
“And you lost your temper.”
Claire gave a short nod.
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.”
“No.”
He folded the papers and slid them back into the envelope.
“You’ve been trying to tell me the children caused your temper.”
“That is not what I said.”
“You said they wouldn’t listen.”
“They wouldn’t.”
“You said they were near the pool.”
“They were.”
“You said they were screaming.”
“They were.”
Claire’s voice tightened.
“You keep stripping out everything that happened before I made one stupid decision.”
“One stupid decision?”
“Yes.”
“You grabbed Lily hard enough to leave marks, shoved both kids into a shed, shut the door, and latched it from the outside.”
“I was opening it again.”
“You don’t know that I would have believed you if I hadn’t watched you do it.”
Claire looked at him with open disbelief.
“You think I was going to leave them there?”
“I think I don’t know what you were going to do.”
The words landed harder this time.
Claire’s eyes filled, but no tears fell.
She turned away from him.
Daniel hated the immediate reflex inside himself that wanted to soften.
Eleven years of marriage had trained his body to respond to her distress before his mind could decide whether it should.
He stood still until the reflex passed.
Claire faced him again.
“I was scared.”
“Of what?”
“You finding out.”
“About the kitchen?”
“About the money.”
Daniel felt something in the conversation shift.
“What about the money?”
Claire looked down at the grass.
“Some of it isn’t there anymore.”
He did not speak.
She rubbed her thumb against her wedding ring.
“The account is lower than you think.”
“How much lower?”
“Daniel.”
“How much?”
“I don’t know exactly.”
“Then approximately.”
She swallowed.
“Maybe thirty.”
“Thirty thousand?”
She nodded.
Daniel stared at her.
His first thought was that she was lying.
His second was worse.
“How?”
“It was spread out.”
“Over what?”
“Months.”
“How?”
Claire’s mouth trembled once.
“I used the card.”
“For what?”
“Things.”
“What things?”
“Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Make me list every stupid thing like I’m on trial.”
“If thirty thousand dollars disappeared from our accounts, I’m going to ask where it went.”
“You make enough.”
Daniel actually laughed then.
There was no humor in it.
Claire’s face tightened.
“That’s exactly what I mean.”
“What does that mean?”
“You act like every dollar is some moral test.”
“No, I act like thirty thousand dollars is thirty thousand dollars.”
“We are not struggling.”
“That isn’t the point.”
“It is part of the point.”
Daniel stared at her.
She continued before he could answer.
“You fly business class for work.”
“My company pays for that.”
“You buy expensive suits.”
“Two suits in four years.”
“You spend money on the house.”
“After we discuss it.”
“There.”
She pointed at him.
“That.”
“What?”
“You decide what counts as responsible spending.”
“We decide.”
“No, we pretend to decide.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
Claire kept going.
“You make the spreadsheet, you tell me what the targets are, you tell me what we should save, and then you ask if I agree.”
“Because you usually say you don’t care.”
“Because I got tired of arguing about it.”
“You never argued.”
“Exactly.”
Daniel went quiet.
Claire’s face was flushed now.
For the first time since he had come home, she sounded less defensive than resentful.
That did not excuse anything.
But it sounded real.
He looked down at the envelope.
“What did you spend the thirty thousand on?”
Claire hesitated.
“Clothes.”
“What else?”
“Furniture.”
“We didn’t get new furniture.”
“Not for here.”
Daniel looked up sharply.
Claire closed her eyes.
“What does that mean?”
She opened them again.
“I rented a place.”
For one second, Daniel could hear nothing except the sprinkler ticking somewhere behind the hedge.
“What place?”
“A condo.”
“Where?”
“Downtown.”
“How long?”
“Three months.”
He stared at her.
“Why?”
Claire looked toward the house again.
Daniel followed her gaze.
Rachel was no longer on the sofa.
A moment later she appeared near the kitchen with Noah in her arms and Lily holding her free hand.
She had probably taken them to get water.
The ordinary movement inside the house made the conversation outside feel even more unreal.
Daniel lowered his voice.
“You rented another home.”
“It’s not another home.”
“What is it?”
“I needed somewhere.”
“For what?”
“To be alone.”
“You have six thousand square feet here.”
“I’m never alone here.”
“The kids are at school.”
“Noah is in half-day kindergarten.”
“We have a sitter three afternoons a week.”
“That isn’t what I mean.”
“Then tell me what you mean.”
Claire rubbed both hands over her face.
“I needed somewhere nobody needed something from me.”
Daniel said nothing.
Claire looked at him through her fingers, then dropped her hands.
“I would go there for a few hours.”
“When?”
“After drop-off.”
“While Noah was at school?”
“Sometimes.”
“And when he wasn’t?”
“The sitter.”
Daniel felt another cold shift in his chest.
“The sitter thought you were running errands.”
“I was.”
“You were sitting in a rented condo.”
“Sometimes.”
“For three months.”
“Yes.”
“Does anyone else know about it?”
Claire’s eyes changed.
Daniel saw the answer before she gave it.
“Who?”
“It isn’t what you’re thinking.”
“Who?”
“My sister knows.”
“Emily knows?”
Claire nodded.
Daniel took a step back.
Emily had been at their house four days earlier.
She had sat at the kitchen island drinking white wine and complaining about airline baggage fees.
She had asked Daniel about his Chicago trip.
She had laughed with Claire over some story about a neighbor’s dog.
Nothing in her face had suggested she was sitting ten feet from a secret that cost thousands of dollars.
“Anyone else?”
Claire looked away.
Daniel’s heartbeat changed.
“Is there someone else?”
“No.”
The answer came quickly.
Too quickly.
He watched her.
Claire’s face hardened.
“No, Daniel.”
May you like
“You hesitated.”
“Because I knew you’d ask that.”
