Chương 4
She could hear Daniel’s voice below, too low to make out words.
Eli waited.
Rachel had promised herself she would never make him carry adult lies.
“Yes,” she said.
His eyebrows drew together.
“But you’re his girlfriend.”
Despite everything, she smiled.
“I’m his wife.”
“Oh.”
He considered that.
“Can somebody have both?”
“Not in our family.”
He nodded.
Then he asked, “Is Dad bad?”
Rachel swallowed.
“No.”
The answer came quickly because she needed it to be true for Eli even if she could not make it true for herself.
“Dad made choices that hurt people.”
“Bad choices?”
“Yes.”
Eli adjusted one headphone cup.
“Like when I broke the lamp and said the cat did it?”
Rachel almost laughed.
“Bigger.”
“How much bigger?”
“A lot.”
He looked disappointed by the scale.
“Is he still my dad?”
Rachel pulled him against her.
“Yes.”
Eli stood stiffly for half a second, then wrapped his arms around her neck.
She breathed into his hair.
His shampoo smelled like green apples.
Downstairs a door opened.
Rachel stood.
“Stay here.”
She descended quickly.
Daniel had opened the garage door manually with the interior release.
The security system gave a warning chirp.
Rachel stopped halfway down the stairs.
“What are you doing?”
“My car is in the garage.”
“The Mercedes?”
“Yes.”
“It’s jointly titled.”
“I’m taking my car.”
“The agreement says neither of us removes jointly titled assets without notice.”
Daniel stared at her.
“You cannot be serious.”
“I am not stopping you. I’m telling you what you signed.”
He stood with one hand on the door.
For years, Daniel had accused Rachel of being overly careful. She read contracts. Saved receipts. Checked insurance renewals before the due date. She returned library books early and kept scanned copies of home-repair invoices.
He used to tease her about it.
Rachel the Archivist.
Rachel the Department of Documentation.
Once, during a happier year, he had printed a fake certificate naming her Chief Executive Officer of Knowing Where Everything Was.
It had hung inside the pantry until that morning.
She had thrown it away.
Daniel looked from her to Vanessa.
“You want me to call Paul before I drive my own vehicle?”
“You can do whatever you want.”
“That’s not what this feels like.”
Rachel said, “I know.”
He stared at her.
The anger weakened.
For a moment they were simply two people who had once loved each other enough to choose curtains together, standing in a room where the rules had changed.
Vanessa’s phone buzzed.
“My car’s here.”
Daniel turned.
“I’ll come with you.”
“No.”
“Where are you going?”
“My apartment.”
“I’ll come there.”
“No.”
His expression hardened.
“Vanessa.”
She picked up the garment bags.
Daniel reached for one.
She let him take it, then looked at Rachel.
“I’m sorry.”
Rachel’s body went still.
Vanessa continued.
“I know that doesn’t matter.”
“It matters less than you want it to.”
“I know.”
Daniel said, “You don’t need to apologize to her like you did this alone.”
Vanessa turned on him.
“I didn’t know she didn’t know.”
Rachel’s breath stopped.
Daniel said, “That is not what I told you.”
“You told me she knew about us.”
“She knew we had problems.”
“You told me she knew you were leaving.”
“I was leaving.”
“You told me she had agreed.”
Daniel glanced at Rachel.
That was enough.
Vanessa’s face changed.
“Oh my God.”
Rachel did not feel triumphant.
She felt tired.
“What else did he tell you?” she asked.
Daniel stepped between them.
“We’re not doing this.”
Rachel moved around him.
“What else?”
Vanessa’s fingers tightened around her purse strap.
“That the house was his family property.”
Rachel blinked.
Daniel said, “I said we lived here because of my family.”
“No. You said your father put the down payment in a trust for you.”
Rachel looked at Daniel.
His father had contributed nothing.
The house had been purchased five years before their marriage with money Rachel inherited from her mother’s commercial-property sale.
Daniel’s father had once paid for a broken irrigation line.
Seven hundred eighty dollars.
Rachel remembered because she had mailed him a check and he had mailed it back with HAPPY HOUSEWARMING written on the envelope.
Vanessa continued, almost as though she could not stop.
“You said Rachel had her own money and didn’t care about the house. You said the separation was mostly about custody.”
Rachel said, “What about custody?”
Daniel shook his head.
“Enough.”
Vanessa looked at him.
“You said she wanted to move Eli to Oregon.”
Rachel stared.
Her sister lived in Oregon.
That was why Daniel knew about the trip.
He had not gotten it from the calendar.
He had built a story around it.
Rachel felt suddenly cold.
“I was taking Eli to my sister’s for three nights.”
Vanessa closed her eyes.
Daniel said, “Vanessa, get in your car.”
She looked at Rachel.
“I believed him.”
Rachel’s mouth felt dry.
“You wanted to.”
Vanessa flinched.
Rachel regretted it as soon as she said it.
Not because it was necessarily false.
Because it was cruel in a way that gave Daniel somewhere to hide.
Vanessa nodded once.
“Yes,” she said. “I did.”
Then she left.
Daniel followed her to the driveway.
Rachel did not.
She stood inside the glass door and watched them argue beside a black sedan. Vanessa kept one hand on her belly and the other raised between them. Daniel leaned toward her. She stepped back.
He did not touch her.
Rachel watched carefully until Vanessa got into the car.
Then Daniel stood alone in the driveway.
The driver pulled away.
Daniel looked through the glass at Rachel.
He seemed older from a distance.
He came back to the door and knocked.
Rachel opened the audio intercom.
“My suitcase.”
She looked down.
It was still beside the sofa.
She rolled it toward the entry, opened the door two feet, and pushed it through.
Daniel caught the handle.
“Can I see Eli?”
“Tonight?”
“Yes.”
She considered it.
“No.”
May you like
His mouth tightened.
“You can’t keep him from me.”
