Chương 7
His hand stopped.
“Sienna told you that?”
“Yes.”
“She doesn’t understand all of it.”
“Then explain.”
Julian looked at the monitor.
“I helped her.”
“With my money?”
“Our money.”
“Good. At least we’ve located the pronoun.”
“Claire.”
“How much?”
“I don’t know exactly.”
“Try.”
“One-fifty maybe. Then Mom moved some things around.”
“Over two hundred eighty thousand dollars.”
His face changed.
That number mattered.
“You found the transfers.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“By looking.”
“Why were you looking?”
Claire laughed.
The sound came out flat.
“Of everything you could ask me, that’s the one?”
“I just mean—”
“I saw forty-five thousand dollars leave an account and asked where it went. You lied. I looked harder.”
Julian sank back into the pillow.
“I was going to fix it.”
“How?”
“Repay it.”
“With whose money?”
“My distribution.”
“Which is marital income.”
“I have separate assets.”
“Then why didn’t you use them in the first place?”
He had no answer.
Claire stepped closer.
“Because separate money feels like yours.”
Julian looked at her.
“And joint money feels like ours, which apparently means available.”
“That’s not what happened.”
“Then explain what happened.”
He glanced toward the hallway.
“Not here.”
She almost admired the inheritance.
Like mother, like son.
“Your family’s favorite sentence.”
“Claire, please.”
“No. You begged for privacy after bringing your brother’s wife into our guest room during your mother’s birthday party.”
“I didn’t plan tonight.”
“What part?”
He stared at her.
“Her being there? The locked door? The pill? Me finding you? Your body trying to resign?”
He winced.
“That last part’s not funny.”
“It wasn’t a joke.”
Silence.
A machine beeped.
Claire lowered her voice.
“Did Eleanor pay Sienna to stay quiet?”
Julian hesitated.
That was enough.
“Did she pay her to stay with Ethan?”
“Mom thought she could contain it.”
“Contain it.”
“She thought if Sienna’s debts were handled and we stopped seeing each other—”
“You would both become moral?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
Julian’s eyes filled with something Claire almost recognized as shame.
“Normal.”
That word landed differently.
Not good.
Not honest.
Not repaired.
Normal.
Claire pulled the visitor chair away from the wall and sat.
“Were you ever going to tell me?”
Julian took too long.
“No.”
Claire nodded.
“Thank you.”
“I’m sorry.”
“That one was too late.”
He looked at her.
“I love you.”
Claire stared.
There were sentences so inappropriate they became obscene.
She stood.
“Don’t.”
“I do.”
“Don’t use that word tonight.”
“It’s true.”
“So was the affair.”
He covered his face.
For several seconds neither spoke.
Then Julian said through his hands, “I don’t know why I did it.”
Claire looked at him.
“Yes, you do.”
He lowered his hands.
“I don’t.”
“You just don’t like the answer.”
His eyes moved to hers.
Claire continued.
“You liked being needed by her. You liked being admired. You liked paying for things and making problems disappear. You liked that she thought you were more capable than Ethan.”
Julian’s face tightened.
“You don’t know that.”
“I’ve watched you with your brother for eight years.”
“That’s not fair.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because you’re making it about things that aren’t—”
“Aren’t flattering?”
Julian looked away.
Claire felt a pulse of satisfaction.
Then disgust.
She did not want to become good at hurting him.
That would tie them together too.
She picked up her bag.
“I’m leaving.”
“Please don’t.”
“Why?”
“I don’t want to be alone.”
Claire stood still.
There it was.
Not love.
Not marriage.
Need.
He was frightened.
The man who had betrayed her was frightened.
She hated that compassion appeared anyway.
It came unwanted, like nausea.
“You’re in a hospital,” she said. “You’re not alone.”
“That’s not what I mean.”
“I know.”
“Claire.”
She reached the door.
He said her name again.
She turned.
He looked terrified.
“I really thought I was dying.”
Claire’s anger softened against her will.
Not forgiveness.
Nothing like it.
Just recognition.
“I’m glad you weren’t.”
His eyes filled.
She left before his did.
Eleanor was waiting in the hallway.
Of course she was.
The older woman had changed into a hospital gown beneath her emerald wrap, but she still wore the gold jewelry.
“Claire.”
Claire kept walking.
“We need to speak.”
“No.”
“Martin is on his way.”
Claire stopped.
“Your attorney is coming to the emergency room at two in the morning?”
“He was at the dinner.”
“He left before the ambulances.”
“He is a family friend.”
“No. He is a lawyer.”
Eleanor’s face tightened.
“This situation is more complicated than you understand.”
Claire turned.
“That sentence is going to become very expensive for you.”
Eleanor stared at her.
Claire was surprised by her own tone.
Not loud.
Not angry.
Just factual.
“Do not threaten me,” Eleanor said.
“I’m not.”
“You are.”
“I’m telling you I called Howard.”
The reaction was immediate.
Small, but immediate.
Eleanor’s right hand tightened around the edge of her wrap.
“Howard?”
“Our accountant.”
“I know who Howard is.”
“Good.”
Eleanor took one step closer.
“What did you ask him for?”
Claire smiled slightly.
“There you are.”
“What does that mean?”
“That’s the first honest expression I’ve seen on your face tonight.”
“Claire.”
“Good night, Eleanor.”
The older woman grabbed her arm.
Claire looked down at the hand.
Eleanor released her.
“I was trying to protect both marriages.”
Claire stared at her.
“From whom?”
Eleanor opened her mouth.
Nothing came.
“Exactly.”
Claire left.
The next morning, she woke at nine twenty-seven in the guest apartment over the detached garage.
She had not intended to sleep there.
She had intended to go to a hotel.
Then she remembered that every luxury hotel in the city would ask for a card connected to accounts she now considered evidence.
So she went home, walked through the silent kitchen, packed a suitcase, and carried it to the apartment herself.
The irony of sleeping above Julian’s car collection did not escape her.
She showered.
Made coffee.
Burned toast.
Ate it anyway.
May you like
At ten fourteen, her attorney called.
Claire had used Naomi Feldman once to review a nonprofit board agreement. Naomi was a family lawyer by reputation, though Claire had never expected to need that part of her practice.
