Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN WEARING MY WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
The following morning, I left Eli with my neighbor Mrs. Dawson and drove toward the address Grandpa had given me.
My old Toyota made a terrible rattling noise every time I accelerated. The gas gauge hovered above empty, and I had twenty-three dollars left in my checking account.
But none of that mattered.
I needed to see the house.
The neighborhood was called Bellehaven Estates, an exclusive development outside Memphis where manicured lawns stretched behind decorative iron fences.
I had passed its entrance once before.
Brent had been driving.
He'd pointed toward the enormous houses and laughed.
“Maybe someday, sweetheart.”
I remembered squeezing his hand.
“Someday.”
Now I drove through the gates with my stomach twisting.
The house stood at the end of a curved driveway.
Cream-colored stone.
Tall windows.
A wraparound porch.
White hydrangeas blooming beside the front steps.
It was more beautiful than the photograph.
And someone was living there.
A silver Mercedes sat in the driveway.
Children's bicycles leaned against the garage.
A colorful welcome sign hung beside the door.
I parked across the street.
Then I saw Brent.
My husband stepped out of the garage wearing a navy polo shirt and expensive sunglasses.
He wasn't carrying construction equipment.
He wasn't exhausted.
He was laughing.
A woman followed him.
Tall.
Blonde.
Beautiful in the effortless way of someone who had never worried about grocery prices.
She wrapped her arms around his waist.
Brent kissed her.
Not a quick kiss.
Not the kind you could explain away.
He held her face between his hands and kissed her like a man greeting the woman he loved.
My fingers went numb around the steering wheel.
Then a little girl ran out of the house.
“Daddy!”
Brent bent down and lifted her.
She couldn't have been older than four.
The blonde woman laughed.
“Careful, sweetheart. Daddy's shirt is clean.”
Daddy.
The word echoed inside my skull.
I stared at the child.
Her dark hair.
Her father's smile.
The same little dimple Eli had on his left cheek.
I couldn't breathe.
Brent had another family.
And they were living in the house my grandfather had bought for me.
I don't remember deciding to get out of the car.
One moment I was sitting behind the wheel.
The next I was standing on the sidewalk.
The woman noticed me first.
Her smile faded.
“Can I help you?”
Brent turned.
When he saw me, the little girl nearly slipped from his arms.
“Savannah?”
I had never heard my name sound like an accusation.
I looked at the woman.
Then at the little girl.
Then at my husband.
“Who are they?”
Brent's mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
The blonde woman stepped forward.
“I'm sorry. Do we know you?”
I looked directly at her.
“My name is Savannah Whitaker.”
She frowned.
Then I said the words that destroyed whatever remained of my marriage.
“I'm Brent's wife.”
The woman stared.
A terrible silence followed.
Then she began laughing.
Not because she thought it was funny.
Because she thought I was lying.
“That's impossible,” she said.
She looked at Brent.
“Tell her.”
Brent remained motionless.
Her smile disappeared.
“Brent?”
I watched his face.
For seven years, I'd known every expression he wore.
The charming smile.
The tired smile.
The reassuring smile he used when bills were overdue.
But I'd never seen this one.
Pure panic.
The woman stepped backward.
“Brent, tell me she's lying.”
He swallowed.
“Vanessa, I can explain.”
May you like
And that was when I realized something even worse.
She hadn't known about me either.
