Page 91 of The Girlfriend

“Howard, Cherry’s forged this note, made it look like it was from me.” She pushed the letter toward him. “Itlookslike my handwriting, but it’s not quite the same.” Suddenly she noticed something. “Look at theP’s, I don’t quite join the loop, and she does,look.”

He sat silently for a moment and she could tell he was trying to hold his temper. “Cherry?Really, Laura? In a minute, you’re going to tell me she’s also responsible for the crisis in the Middle East and global warming.”

“No, no. You have to listen. Howard, about a month ago, she came to my office. Told me she knew that I’d lied about Daniel. And she said she was going to take everything away from me. She’sthreateningme. Somehow she got this paper. She’s been in the house. . . .” The thought chilled her.

“Why didn’t you say anything about this before?”

“I didn’t think you’d believe me.” She could tell he didn’t now, and it made her frustrated. She looked at the letter again. “How did you get this, anyway?”

“It arrived this morning.”

“And you just happened to drop by and be there to comfort Marianne? I thought you were supposed to be at a work conference?”

“Laura, I want a divorce.”

Something clamped around her heart and stopped it.“What?”

“Marianne’s leaving her husband.”

“How nice for you.”

“Don’t be like that.”

“Like what? You want me to congratulate the two of you? I’ve had to stand by and turn a blind eye foryearswhile the two of you . . . !” Laura exploded.

“I’m sorry.”

“No, you’re not. You’re thinking of yourself.”

“Okay, yes, mostly I am. I’m unhappy, aren’t you?”

Laura didn’t dare answer; she didn’t want to admit it.

“It’s beenyears,Laura. How long are we supposed to go on? Do you want to spend the rest of your life living like this? The two of us barely functioning together? Don’t you think you’ll look back and think it was time—valuable,precioustime—wasted? How much longer do the two of us even have? In a few years, I’ll be sixty.Sixty!If I can’t do something about it now, when do I change things? When I’m seventy? Eighty? But, also, I think you’re unhappy too. If I go, it leaves you free to change things. Maybe find someone else.”

Anger burned in her. “I don’t need your relationship counseling, thanks. I planned for the first marriage to work.”

He looked at her sadly. “So did I.” Then he stood. “I think it’s better if I don’t stay. For what it’s worth, I was at a conference. Marianne came to see me this morning at the office.”

Of course, it would be that the one time she confronted him on his infidelity, he was innocent. Laura hated the whole sorry situation. She wanted to kick and scream at the unfairness of it all.

He picked up his jacket. “Has Daniel been in touch?” he asked quietly.

“No.”

There seemed nothing else to say. Howard went into the hallway.Laura waited, then, urged by a need to see him leave, maybe to hope he wouldn’t, followed.

“Are you all right?”

“Fantastic, considering my husband’s just left me.”

“You can divorce me. You have the grounds. But, actually, I meant, are you all right about Daniel?”

Tears burned in Laura’s eyes. She wanted to say no, wanted him to come and comfort her, for them to have a relationship where this could happen. But they didn’t, and loneliness swamped her and made her bitter.

“Seems he takes after his father in choosing the wrong woman.”

She’d meant Marianne, but too late realized it could have been her. Humiliated, she turned and went back into the kitchen. She waited until she heard the elevator descend to the basement and knew Howard would be getting into his car. Sure enough, she heard the vehicle elevator rise. Somewhere out there, he drove off to the woman he loved. She picked up her wine and her hand shook. Was this all part of her punishment? Had she started herself along this long, awful, destructive path? The wine stuck in her throat.