Page 28 of She Didn’t See It Coming

Sam is not even sure how it happened. Paige is an attractive woman; he’s always been aware of it.

But so was his wife, and he’d remained faithful to her.

Through pregnancy and childbirth, through the aftermath, through the exhaustion of raising a small child, through the programmed sex scheduled through the fertile parts of her cycle as they tried for months to conceive another child.

But it hadn’t happened. The doctors said there was nothing wrong, it would happen, it would just take time.

But the fun had gone out of trying, for both of them.

Perhaps that was what had made him receptive to Paige.

Bryden had routinely gone out of town overnight once a month or so on business.

Paige had started coming over in the evenings when Bryden was away, to keep him company and spend time with Clara.

The first time, he’d told Bryden, and she thought that it was nice, that they’d had fun while she was away.

The second time Paige invited herself over when Bryden was away, he hadn’t told his wife.

He wasn’t sure why. There had been something between him and Paige that night, some new, delicious tension.

They’d watched a movie together after they put Clara to bed.

Paige didn’t have a partner in her life at the time.

She’d complained lightly about the quality of the men out there, said all the good ones were taken.

He knew she was lonely. He kept his distance.

The third time, he was on the cusp of telling her that maybe she shouldn’t come over every time Bryden was away.

That he really could manage his toddler on his own.

But he didn’t. And that night, after Clara was asleep in bed, and they sat down to watch TV with a glass of wine—that had been a mistake, the glass of wine—somehow, she’d kissed him.

And he hadn’t been able to resist the easy pleasure of it.

By the time they were half undressed, he’d pulled her into the bedroom, and she’d spent most of the night.

“We’ve crossed a line,” she said, clinging naked to him afterward, running her finger down his chest.

He was feeling sated, pleasantly relaxed. “Bryden must never know,” he whispered to her, looking directly into her eyes.

“No, never,” she agreed. “We must never hurt her.”

And so it had become an ongoing thing these last few months, that every time Bryden went away on business, he’d had sex in the marital bed with his wife’s best friend.

Paige always left early in the morning, before Clara woke up.

At some point, he knew, Paige would start dating someone else, and it would be over.

Now Sam glances at Paige uneasily, her long brown hair blowing around her face in the breeze, wondering how much this revelation about Bryden’s affair will hurt him. The detectives already seem to think he killed his wife. Well, he’s not Husband of the Year.

···

In the chilly park, with the cold March wind, Paige observes Sam, the way he’s clenching his jaw as he watches his daughter, and feels a matching anxiety course through her.

He’s right. If the detectives knew he was cheating, or if they think he knew Bryden was cheating on him, it gives him motive.

He’s obviously scared. But it also gives them someone else to focus on.

She stands beside him, wanting to pull him into a hug, but she can’t do that in front of Clara. Not in public, she wouldn’t dare. And certainly not with all the media around. They will have to be more careful than ever.

She’s worried for herself and Sam both. The police obviously suspect him. She doesn’t want to see herself dragged through the mud by the media. She can imagine what they’d say about her, the best friend .

The sex has been casual, but great. She doesn’t really know how he feels about her. And now Bryden is dead, and that might change everything.

···

Donna is relieved when Sam and Paige leave with Clara. They need to talk—she and Jim and Lizzie.

Once they’ve gone, Donna glances at Lizzie and then says to her husband, “Jim.” He lifts his head and looks back at her uneasily.

They’d been so overwhelmed with grief last night at the discovery of the body, the thread of hope snapped, that they’d been unable to speak.

This morning, Donna had kept her doubts about Sam from her husband.

She doesn’t really know what he thinks; he’s been so shut down.

But now it’s time, Donna thinks, in the living room of the condo, to be honest. “I know we’ve all been supportive of Sam, but we have to consider the possibility—” She can’t finish.

“What are you suggesting?” Jim asks uneasily. But he knows. “That Sam did this? That he murdered our girl? That’s impossible,” he insists, shaking his head. “I can’t believe it.”

“Because you don’t want to believe it,” Donna says, trembling, holding her ground.

“I can’t believe it! That he could do that! To the mother of his child—kill her and…and…do that to her body.” He seems to recoil from the very idea, leaning back further against the sofa, his face twisting. “Think of what you’re saying!”

“Husbands kill their wives all the time,” Donna says, “in horrible ways.”

“I can’t believe it either,” Lizzie says, speaking up.

Donna is taken aback. “I thought—”

“You don’t know Sam as well as I do. He’s not capable of something like this,” Lizzie insists. “Whoever did this must be—” She can’t seem to finish the thought. She adds stubbornly, “I just can’t see it. He loved her.”

Donna looks back at the two of them. “I’m not necessarily saying he did it. I’m saying it’s possible, and maybe we should just stop blindly believing everything he says.”

“It’s for the police to figure out,” Jim says wearily.

“He has no alibi,” Donna points out. “Am I the only one here who finds that odd? A two-hour blank in the workday?” The other two stare back at her. “We don’t know what was going on in their marriage.”

“Bryden and I were close, Mom,” Lizzie says. “If things were bad, she would have told me. I would have noticed. There was nothing wrong, I’m sure of it.”

Donna doesn’t agree. She’s not sure Bryden would have told her sister if there were problems, if she would have told anyone. She knows Bryden and Lizzie had a complicated relationship, were sometimes at odds. “He’s not acting like an innocent man,” Donna says.

“How do you mean?” Lizzie asks. “How would you expect him to act under the circumstances?”

“I don’t know, but there’s something about him. I think he’s hiding something. He’s not like he used to be. Something about him has changed.”

Lizzie says, exasperated, “How could he not be changed?”

A short time later, when Sam and Paige return from the park with Clara, Donna studies Sam, his tight, worried expression, and thinks, her stomach cramping, He looks guilty .