Natalie was incensed, not at Addie for having an overstuffed backpack, but rather at the teacher, who was being overly rigid and could have helped her find those documents. No matter.
“I’ll take care of it, not to worry,” Natalie said, before heading downstairs to email Addie’s teacher. In her small office on the first floor, Natalie saw something that changed her mind about the wording of the email that she’d already crafted in her head. There, on top of a pile of papers, right near her checkbook, Natalie saw the signed field trip form along with that check for ten dollars. She sighed aloud, shifted her gaze to the ceiling, letting the fatigue behind her eyes drip down her throat like bitter medicine. Instead of a screed, she’d have to send an apology.
Dammit, she thought. I’m not with it. I’m always with it, but now I’m not.
Natalie sent her an apology email, and soon after received assurances from Addie’s teacher that she could still go on the field trip. Addie, pleased with the news, could finally get to sleep. Thirty minutes later, Michael returned home looking quite bedraggled. Natalie noted the strain in his eyes. He strode into the kitchen stoop-shouldered as though whatever was weighing on his mind also weighed him down physically.
“Hey, hon,” he said, acting like everything was normal between them, and he even gave her a kiss on the cheek. Natalie, who had yet to rid herself of the guilt for the field trip debacle and for being a bit of a zombie parent, didn’t have much fight in her. Tomorrow she’d reach out to her doctor, maybe try a new sleeping pill.
Michael opened the refrigerator, poked his head inside.
“Anything to eat?” he asked.
With his back turned to her, he couldn’t see Natalie’s eye roll.
“There’s plenty to eat,” she said. “It’s just all in cans, jars, and wrappers, so if you open those up and mix them together in some procedural fashion, I’m sure you’ll be able to create something edible.”
Michael extracted himself from the fridge holding a hunk of cheese in one hand and a beer in the other.
“That almost sounded like sarcasm,” he said, sending her a playful grin from across the room. “Are you hungry? Let me cook you something. Maybe we can have some wine, watch something on TV.”
Now he was being generous and Natalie didn’t trust it—or him. She was about to answer when Michael’s phone rang. He checked the number, looking rather puzzled. She hadn’t even had the chance to inquire as to his whereabouts that day, didn’t get to drop hints that she knew whatever he said was a lie. Instead, she watched as his expression changed and concern flooded his eyes. He cupped his hand over the phone and turned his back to her, speaking in a quiet voice so as to not be heard. Still, she had a good guess what he was saying: I can’t talk here, or something to that effect. He noticed Natalie’s attention on him.
“It’s work,” he said. “It’s a crisis.”
He slipped out of the kitchen, Natalie assumed to his office. Maybe Audrey had called to complain about Natalie harassing her, or perhaps she and Michael were plotting ways to get the wife out of the picture. Natalie loved true crime shows, she just never thought her life would become the subject of one.
Natalie went outside while Michael was elsewhere having his “work” chat. She wanted a peek at the Audi A8 now parked in the driveway. Even in the dark she could see it clearly—on the right side of the bumper, just as she remembered, was that dent. But was it the exact shape and diameter of the dent she’d seen on the black Audi A8 leaving the McDonald’s parking lot? Natalie couldn’t say. Stupidly, her eyes had gone straight to that dent, and she didn’t think about the license plate until the car was out of view. By the time she considered using her phone to take a picture it was too late, the car was out of sight.
An idea came to Natalie, a devious one at that. She raced back into the house to get her key fob. She had to hurry. That call wouldn’t last forever. She got into the front seat of her Highlander and started the engine. All the instruments came alight. A moment later a woman’s voice came through the car speakers.
“We can’t do that,” Natalie heard her say. Then, “Hello? Michael?”
The speaker fell silent.
Natalie gnashed her teeth together hard enough to feel them crack. Michael had paired his phone to her car, since he shared the kid chauffeuring duties on weekends. She was pleased to have remembered that the Bluetooth switched from the phone to the car speaker when the devices were in close proximity. The tech glitch happened infrequently enough to be easily forgotten, and it almost always resulted in confusion and laughter when a mysterious voice came blasting unexpectedly into the car. Only this time it wasn’t so unexpected, and it was no great shock to Natalie to confirm the person Michael was conversing with was a female.
But was it Audrey?
Moments later, the front door opened and Michael stepped out into the damp evening air. She expected he’d ask what she was doing sitting in her car, but he was too distracted. Natalie got out of her vehicle to greet him. If he harbored suspicions that she’d overheard snippets of his conversation when the call appeared to have dropped, he didn’t make them known.
“I have to go back to the office,” he said briskly. “We have a big security breach. It’s all hands on deck. A real mess. I’m so sorry, Nat.”
He kissed her on the cheek, hard, as if he really just wanted to get it over and done with as quickly as possible. The next moment he was in his car, and Natalie was watching his taillights (and that dent) vanish into the gathering darkness. She waited awhile, arms limp by her side, wondering what to do, when an idea suddenly came to her. She returned to the house, got her phone, glanced at the time—just after nine now—and called a number from memory.
“Scarlett, it’s me, Natalie … no, no, everything is fine. But I was wondering if you might be able to come back tonight. Something has come up and Michael and I both have to go out.”
Scarlett gave her consent, but couldn’t get to the house for a half hour. Natalie told her that would be fine. She was certain Michael didn’t have a work emergency, but had a good idea where he was headed and figured he wouldn’t be leaving anytime soon.
While it was painful to consider, she was grateful too, because tonight was the night she’d learn the truth about her husband once and for all.
CHAPTER 19
NATALIE
In the light of morning, things looked different to Natalie—a whole lot less gloomy, that’s for sure. The motel room was still on the seedy side, and without the cover of darkness, the dust and dirt were even more obvious. When Natalie opened the curtains, allowing in a bright swath of sunlight, she felt a shift take place inside of her. For a moment, the nagging fear and worry were gone, as were her ever-present fatigue and exhaustion from yet another sleepless night. It was as if the sun had vanquished those feelings like a magic trick, and in its place came a new sensation, a strange one at that: hope.