“You need to come to my office. Now.”
No debate there. Moments later, Tina and Natalie were seated together in her windowed office with the door closed.
“Look, I was going to call you,” said Tina. “HR came to me with a complaint about you. Apparently, Audrey thinks you’ve been harassing her, and they’ve opened an internal investigation.”
Natalie looked aghast.
“What? What the hell?? No! She’s sleeping with my husband.”
For Tina’s benefit, Natalie rattled off the evidence, starting with where Audrey and Michael met—at the gym. She reminded Tina about the note.
“‘Flirting with one woman in particular,’” said Natalie, paraphrasing the confessional.
Natalie listed more connections, the same batch she’d given Michael. Then came the big reveal: Michael’s reaction to seeing Audrey’s picture, and Audrey’s reaction to seeing Michael’s. (She left out the part where she may have imagined both reactions because she’d been seeing things lately.)
“Hey, Encyclopedia Brown, I’m glad you’ve done your homework. And maybe you’re right, maybe Michael is doing what you think he is, but if you keep going down this road with Audrey, you’re going to lose your damn job. I’m saying this harshly only because I love you and I don’t want to see that happen.”
Natalie rolled her eyes the way a teenager might.
“Please … some random employee is more important than me?”
A sharp pain radiated around Natalie’s temples. Her headaches were starting to come back. She’d gotten what, three hours of sleep last night, according to her tracker? This week was shaping up to be one of her worst yet.
“I’m sorry I said that,” offered Natalie, adopting a grimace of embarrassment. “I’m not myself.”
“Obviously,” said Tina, her smile slight. “Just promise me you’ll cool your jet engines, okay? We’ll put our heads together and figure out a way to get the name of Michael’s love interest without you getting tossed out on your ass.”
“Right,” said Natalie.
Tina tapped her fingers impatiently against her desk, her eyes demanding more of Natalie.
“Okay,” Natalie said, with emphasis this time. “I promise.”
To seal the deal, Natalie used her finger to make the shape of an “x” over her heart. Tina didn’t look entirely convinced.
“Let’s meet up after work for a drink. We can talk and plan.”
She took that as her cue to leave.
“Let me see how I feel,” replied Natalie, knowing full well she already had plans.
* * *
Hours after she’d bailed on drinks with Tina, following too many emails and meetings, the day’s work was finally done. Natalie sat in her car in the employee parking lot, keeping an eye on things—one thing in particular. She moved to a new parking spot, one that offered the perfect sight line to a little red Kia Rio, the same car Audrey had driven to Buckley’s on the day the two had shared that fateful lunch.
It was going to be a late day at the office—that’s what Natalie had told the nanny. The kids were fine. The nanny was taking care of things at home, as she did Monday through Thursday. She agreed to stay as long as needed, freeing Natalie to go on a little expedition, though the right word, she knew, was tailing.
Natalie was texting with the nanny, making sure dinner was set (Bryce and his finicky eating these days), when Audrey finally appeared. She exited the building looking, to Natalie’s eyes, hardened, determined. The sky was gray and overcast, the threat of rain hanging in the air, which seemed to suit Audrey’s mood. This was a new look for her, and if Natalie were to infer anything from it, she’d say that Audrey didn’t appear eager to go to wherever she was headed.
She watched Audrey get into her car. Moments later, the Kia abandoned its parking space after completing a tight turn. Thank goodness Audrey didn’t seem to take notice of the midnight-blue Toyota Highlander that followed her out of the parking lot.
Natalie had never played PI before, didn’t know the first thing about following somebody. She didn’t think her SUV would attract much attention, but even so, she kept a few car lengths back. Twice she got a yellow light and had to switch lanes, gunning it to make sure she wasn’t left behind. If Audrey became suspicious and checked her rearview, she likely wouldn’t even recognize Natalie, who had donned a black baseball cap and wore sunglasses despite the gloomy day.
Until Tina had pointed it out, Natalie didn’t think of her behavior as harassment. Clearly though, what she was doing now crossed a line. She could feel it like an insect bite on her neck, a tiny bump growing in size. That’s what obsession felt like—a bite she couldn’t scratch away.
Natalie followed the Kia onto I-95, and drove five miles south until Audrey flicked her blinker, bringing them both into a rest area with a McDonald’s right off the highway.
The parking lot was half full, but Audrey settled on a vacant spot some distance from the entrance to the McDonald’s. Was Audrey here for a bite to eat, or to meet somebody? Natalie drove her car into a spot a few rows behind the Kia. A light rain began to fall, a steady pattering on the windshield that left what looked like teardrops on the glass. Natalie kept the wipers off, allowing the rain to accumulate, making it harder for her to see and be seen.
Audrey stayed inside her car. Why? She had to be meeting someone. What other reason could there be?
She’d picked a good night to tail her coworker because Michael had texted to inform her that he, too, was working late. He smartly—or so he thought—offered assurances that it was work he’d be doing.
I know how you think these days. Don’t get any wrong ideas. Ok? I love you.
He added two heart emojis after his message for emphasis.
Natalie’s BS meter ticked up a few notches higher. Guilty hearts, she thought. Perhaps she’d be seeing her husband soon if she was right in thinking it was Michael that Audrey had come to meet. As the minutes passed and nobody showed up to rendezvous, doubt started creeping in.
You imagined it all, Natalie told herself. The look on Audrey’s face, then the one on Michael’s, it’s all in your head.
Go home, Nat, that same voice urged. Go back to the kids.
Let the nanny go home.
Let this craziness go.
You’re doing it to yourself.
Natalie’s eyes burned with fatigue. She was tired. So damn tired all the time.
Again, she felt her eyelids growing heavy.
Don’t.
Not now.
Audrey’s here to meet someone. I can feel it in my bones. I know it in my heart. Something is going to happen.
But after so much time open, her eyes had other ideas. The patter of rain bouncing off the car roof made a gentle, rhythmic sound as the droplets hit the windshield, and its hypnotic quality eased her serenely into the place she wanted to go … but not now. Anytime but now.
Natalie fought as best she could, but it was no use. She heard Tina’s voice ringing in her head: you’re going to lose your damn job!
Next came Michael’s.