Chapter 3 - THE DINNER DANIEL FINALLY ATTENDED
Daniel came to dinner the next night.
Without Vanessa.
He arrived carrying wine.
Margaret took it from him and placed it on the counter without opening it.
Robert sat at one end of the table.
Margaret at the other.
I sat beside her.
Daniel noticed.
“You’re still staying here?”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“Until I decide where I want to be.”
“This is our marriage.”
“Yes.”
“Then shouldn’t you be at our house?”
I stared at him.
“You spent five months paying another woman’s rent and you’re worried where I sleep?”
Robert closed his eyes.
Margaret said:
“Sit down.”
Daniel sat.
No one touched dinner.
Margaret began.
“Who is Vanessa to you?”
Daniel leaned back.
“I already told Emily.”
“No.”
“You gave her explanations.”
Margaret folded her hands.
“I asked a question.”
Daniel looked at his mother.
“You’re really doing this?”
“Yes.”
He laughed under his breath.
“Fine.”
He looked at me.
“Vanessa is an old friend.”
Margaret:
“Are you sleeping with her?”
“Mom.”
“Yes or no?”
Daniel’s face reddened.
“That’s none of your business.”
Robert said:
“It became my business when you billed her apartment to my company.”
Daniel turned.
“What?”
Good.
He had not expected that.
Robert continued:
“Temporary executive housing?”
Daniel’s face tightened.
“That was supposed to be corrected.”
“When?”
“I forgot.”
“For three months?”
“It was a coding mistake.”
Robert leaned forward.
“Did an employee live there?”
“No.”
“Did a client?”
“No.”
“Then why did you submit it?”
Daniel looked at me.
“This is exactly why I didn’t want Emily involved.”
I actually laughed.
Margaret stared at her son.
“Your father asked about company money.”
Daniel ignored her.
“Emily has always been obsessive about finances.”
I went still.
Always?
I handled our bills because Daniel hated them.
I filed taxes.
Tracked insurance.
Planned retirement contributions.
Negotiated our mortgage rate.
Now competence had become pathology.
I asked:
“What did you buy at Meridian Jewelers?”
Daniel rubbed his forehead.
“Can we stop doing this in front of my parents?”
Margaret answered:
“No.”
He looked betrayed.
Then:
“A necklace.”
“For Vanessa?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“You know.”
“Say it.”
“About nineteen hundred.”
“Why?”
“She had a rough birthday.”
I stared at him.
My birthday six months earlier had been celebrated with takeout because Daniel said quarter-end deadlines were crushing him.
I remembered telling him not to worry.
He had kissed my forehead.
Promised we would do something later.
We never did.
Robert said quietly:
“Are you in love with her?”
Daniel stood.
“I’m not sitting here for this.”
Margaret remained calm.
“Sit.”
He stared at her.
Then something strange happened.
He did.
Maybe because he was still a little boy somewhere inside himself.
Maybe because Margaret had rarely used that voice since he turned eighteen.
She repeated:
“Are you in love with Vanessa?”
Daniel looked at me.
Then away.
“I don’t know.”
That answer hurt more than yes.
Yes has edges.
I don’t know spreads everywhere.
I asked:
“How long?”
He became defensive.
“Nothing happened at first.”
“How long?”
“We reconnected last spring.”
Nine months.
“When did it become physical?”
His face answered before his mouth.
“August.”
Four months.
The hotel in October.
The apartment beginning in August.
The necklace.
Everything aligned.
I swallowed.
“Did Vanessa know you were married?”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“You met her.”
Yes.
Nice to finally meet you.
“She knew.”
“Yes.”
I nodded.
That mattered.
Not because it reduced Daniel’s responsibility.
Because I would not later let anyone rewrite Vanessa as a woman deceived about my existence.
She knew.
Then Margaret asked:
“What have you told Vanessa about Emily?”
Daniel looked at her sharply.
“Why?”
“Answer.”
“Nothing.”
Robert laughed once.
“No woman knowingly has an affair with a married man for four months while you rent her an apartment and never asks about the wife.”
Daniel stood again.
“This is disgusting.”
I stared.
“What is?”
“This whole ambush.”
There it was.
Not affair.
Ambush.
Not misuse of money.
Ambush.
Margaret said:
“Daniel.”
He looked at her.
“You brought another woman into your marriage.”
Her voice did not rise.
“You used your wife’s money to help support her.”
“You submitted at least one false or unsupported business reimbursement.”
“And you are currently angry because the people affected have asked you questions.”
Daniel’s face went pale.
She continued.
“If that feels like an ambush, imagine what the mall felt like to Emily.”
For the first time, he had nothing to say.
Then my phone buzzed.
A message from a number I did not recognize.
Emily, this is Vanessa. Daniel gave me your number. We should talk woman to woman before his parents make this uglier than it is.
I showed Margaret.
She read it.
Then handed back the phone.
“Comfortable.”
“What?”
She looked toward Daniel.
“He’s getting comfortable.”
Daniel had no idea what she meant.
May you like
I did.
And suddenly I wanted to hear what Vanessa believed.
