Chapter 5 - The Longest Day of My Life
I made myself think it through, because I had to land somewhere.
The late nights he'd blamed on year-end filings. The way he'd walked out of the living room last Monday to take a call in the yard. A receipt I'd seen folded on the counter a few weeks back and never bothered to open.
My hands were shaking, and I hated that they were.
"Stop," I said out loud to the empty room. "You don't actually know anything yet."
I picked up my phone to call him. Put it down. Picked it up. Put it down again.
If I called him at work, he'd have all afternoon to build a story. If I texted, I'd read a confession into every period and comma. So I did the hardest thing I could think of, which was nothing at all.
I moved through the day like a ghost. Got Lily to school. Came home and stayed busy so I wouldn't have to sit still — laundry, dishes, a grocery run where I stood in the cereal aisle for fifteen minutes and walked out with nothing.
By pickup, my face must have looked wrong, because Lily climbed into the car and immediately asked if I was sick.
"I'm fine, bug," I said. "Tell me more about Penelope's house. What did you two get up to?"
"It was so fun! We played spa!" Then, brightly: "Mom, Daddy has the best stuff in his trunk."
I kept my eyes on the road and my voice flat. "Yeah? Like what?"
"A really long yellow wig. And a shiny pink dress with sparkles all over it. And giant sunglasses like a movie star. And red lipstick!" She listed it the way she'd list flavors of ice cream.
"You saw all that yesterday? When you got your jacket?"
"Uh-huh. The trunk popped open by accident. The button on the keys did it."
"Did Daddy say anything about those things?"
"Nope. But Penelope thinks it's a surprise for you. Daddy likes surprises."
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Then she went back to humming, perfectly content. My seven-year-old was calmer than I was by a mile.
I drove the rest of the way home very, very slowly, because every muscle in my body wanted to floor it.
