Vanessa stood in the kitchen wearing the red anniversary dress Mark had bought her.
She picked up her purse.
“I’m going out with Daniel tonight.”
Mark looked at her.
“Your ex?”
Vanessa rolled her eyes.
“Yes, and if you start acting insecure again, maybe we should just get divorced.”
Mark stayed quiet.
That irritated her more than an argument would have.
Vanessa stepped closer until the silver clasp of her purse touched the edge of the counter.
“You think I’m going to cheat just because he wants to see me?”
Mark said nothing.
She laughed without sounding amused.
“Daniel makes me feel wanted, and you make everything feel heavy.”
Mark’s expression changed, but he did not raise his voice.
Vanessa grabbed her keys.
“Don’t wait up, because I may not come home tonight.”
Mark finally nodded.
“Okay.”
She stopped with one hand on the back door.
“That’s it?”
“Yes.”
Vanessa stared at him, suddenly unsure whether she had won the argument she wanted.
The porch light caught the red fabric as she walked outside.
Mark listened to her car reverse over the loose gravel beside their garage.
He remained in the kitchen long after the taillights disappeared.
On the counter stood the chocolate cake he had collected from a bakery across town.
Two untouched plates waited beside it.
A paper envelope rested under the edge of his dinner napkin.
Inside the envelope was a reservation confirmation for a small inn beside Lake Crescent.
Mark had planned the weekend months earlier because Vanessa once told him that she missed waking up near the water.
He folded the confirmation and put it back into the envelope.
Then he walked upstairs to the bedroom they had shared for eleven years.
He opened the bottom drawer of his dresser and removed a narrow black box.
The box contained an old brass key attached to a faded blue ribbon.
Vanessa had told him the key belonged to a storage locker that her father rented before he died.
She had also told him that the locker was empty.
Mark had believed both statements until a woman named Evelyn Price called his office that afternoon.
Evelyn was an attorney who handled probate records in a neighboring county.
She had asked whether Mark could identify a particular signature on a loan document.
Mark had recognized Vanessa’s handwriting immediately.
He had not recognized the company named on the document.
The company was called Westbridge Family Holdings.
Its mailing address was a commercial mailbox near the highway.
The document listed Mark as a personal guarantor for a substantial business obligation.
