Chapter 2 - THE STORY HE TOLD ABOUT ME
I stayed in the nursery until Damon knocked.
“You okay in there?”
“I need a few minutes.”
He paused outside the door. “You’ve been needing a lot of those lately.”
The sentence was mild enough to sound concerned, but I heard the warning beneath it.
For months, Damon had been describing me that way. Tired. Sensitive. Overwhelmed. He used those words with my parents, our neighbors and even my obstetrician when he attended one appointment in January.
I had blamed myself.
My pregnancy had followed two miscarriages and sixteen months of fertility treatments. I had left my job managing patient services at a rehabilitation hospital earlier than planned because I couldn’t sleep and kept making small mistakes. Damon’s salary covered the mortgage, but he reminded me often that it did.
Claire had become the person I called when I was afraid.
She knew when I woke at three in the morning. She knew I sometimes sat in the unfinished nursery because sleeping beside Damon made me feel lonelier. She knew I worried that grief had changed me into someone he no longer loved.
Now I wondered how much of that she had repeated to him.
I texted Owen: I need to see you privately. Don’t call Claire.
He responded within a minute.
Is she with Damon?
The question made me sit straighter.
We met that afternoon at a diner near the train station. Owen arrived in his work clothes, his tie folded into his jacket pocket. He looked exhausted rather than surprised.
I showed him the photograph and the access log.
He stared at Claire’s hand until the waitress refilled our coffee and quietly walked away.
“She’s been canceling wedding appointments,” he said. “She told me you needed her.”
“I did need her.”
Owen rubbed both hands over his face. “Three months ago, she started asking whether I believed people should stay in unhappy marriages for a baby. I thought she meant you and Damon.”
My phone buzzed.
Damon had sent a message to my mother.
Nora came home from her appointment confused and very emotional. Could you check on her? I’m worried about her judgment.
He had begun establishing his explanation before Claire had even left my closet.
May you like
This wasn’t only an affair.
Damon was preparing people not to believe me.
