CHAPTER THREE: WHAT RICHARD HEARD
Richard stood beside our kitchen island with his tie in his fist.
“You went looking for my wife,” he accused me.
“She approached me,” I said.
“And she told me you had been threatening her.”
Jessica lifted her head sharply.
“Threatening Caroline?”
Richard answered before I could.
“Caroline is dealing with a private medical situation, and she has misunderstood several things.”
“Then why are you asking whether I spoke to her instead of asking what she misunderstood?” I asked.
Richard took a slow breath.
“You don’t know my family.”
“I know enough to recognize someone using his wife’s health as a reason no one should listen to her.”
He looked toward Jessica.
“We need to go.”
Jessica did not move.
“You said Caroline agreed to the separation,”
she whispered.
Richard’s face hardened.
“Not here.”
“You told me she was seeing somebody else,” Jessica said.
“Jessica, stop talking.”
I had expected Richard to insult me again.
Instead, he had begun issuing instructions to the woman he had been assuring me was wonderful a few minutes earlier.
Jessica’s eyes filled with tears.
“David, I never meant for you to find out like this.”
I felt an urge to ask how she had intended for me to find out.
I swallowed the question because I knew the answer would hurt without changing anything.
“How long?” I asked.
Jessica looked at Richard.
That glance was enough to make my stomach drop.
“Answer him,” Richard said.
She turned back to me.
“Seven months,” she whispered.
Seven months covered my birthday, our anniversary,
the weekend trip to Door County, and the night she had cried on my shoulder about the pressure at work.
I had helped her prepare presentations for the man she was sleeping with.
I had told her she deserved recognition from a boss who constantly took credit for his employees.
Now I understood why Richard had suddenly approved a promotion that had been delayed for years.
“Did the promotion come from him?” I asked.
Jessica hesitated.
“I earned that position.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Richard interrupted.
“She earned every dollar.”
“I didn’t ask you,” I said.
A muscle jumped in his cheek.
Jessica finally answered.
“He recommended me for it.”
I nodded because I could not trust myself to say anything else.
Richard stepped toward the door.
“Whatever Caroline has been saying, she’s trying to damage my reputation,” he said.
“I’m warning you not to spread it.”
“Was that a threat?” I asked.
“Take it as advice.”
He left without another word.
The sound of his car starting came through the open kitchen window.
Jessica remained beside the island while the house settled into a silence neither of us knew how to use.
I asked whether she had helped Richard conceal payments.
She looked at me as though I had struck her.
“Why would you think that?”
“Because Caroline named a consulting company, and you just looked frightened before I even repeated it.”
Jessica rubbed her hands together.
“Richard asked me to format investor updates,” she said.
“He said the finance department had already approved everything.”
“Did you verify that?”
“That wasn’t my role.”
“Did you know the claims were true?”
She did not answer.
I opened a drawer and took out a small overnight bag we used for weekends away.
Jessica watched me collect a change of clothes and my laptop.
“You’re leaving?” she asked.
“I can’t stay here tonight.”
“Please don’t make any decisions while you’re angry.”
I closed the bag.
“The affair was a decision you made for seven months,” I said.
“What I do next is not a punishment for your decision.”
She stepped aside as I walked toward the front door.
Outside, the air smelled of rain and fresh-cut grass.
I drove to Nora’s apartment without turning on the radio.
Only after I parked did I allow myself to cry.
