This time there was no humor at all.
“Adrian and I went to Vermont with our daughters three weeks ago.”
Vanessa’s expression changed.
“He told me that was for the girls.”
“It was our anniversary trip.”
Vanessa looked toward the floor.
Claire continued:
“He bought me earrings.”
Vanessa said nothing.
“He slept with me.”
The room changed.
Vanessa looked physically ill.
There was a particular cruelty in discovering the person you are betraying your marriage for has been preserving his own marriage more actively than he admitted.
Claire did not seem to enjoy saying it.
She was proving a point.
“Whatever Adrian told you about us,” Claire said, “he was lying to you too.”
Vanessa collapsed back into the chair.
For several seconds, only the refrigerator could be heard.
Then I asked:
“What was Boston?”
Vanessa did not answer.
“Vanessa.”
She wiped her face.
“Adrian’s company is looking at expansion.”
“I know.”
“He thought he might run the office.”
“And?”
“And we talked about what that could mean.”
“For you?”
“Yes.”
“You were going with him?”
“I didn’t know.”
Claire said:
“You looked at apartments.”
Vanessa froze.
That was new to me.
Claire pulled out her phone.
“Adrian admitted you went up three weeks ago.”
I stared at Vanessa.
“Boston?”
She nodded.
“What did you tell me that weekend?”
No answer.
Then I remembered.
“Your cousin.”
Vanessa shut her eyes.
She had told me she was helping her cousin Rachel move in Philadelphia.
I had even sent Rachel a text telling her not to let Vanessa lift anything heavy because she had hurt her shoulder at the gym.
Rachel replied with a heart.
Now I wondered whether Rachel knew.
It did not matter tonight.
“You looked at apartments.”
Vanessa whispered:
“Two.”
I laughed.
I could not help it.
Not because it was funny.
Because my brain had reached the edge of what it could absorb seriously.
“You threatened to end our marriage tonight because I might object to you going dancing with Daniel.”
“I know how it sounds.”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“You do not get to say that sentence.”
“What?”
“I know how it sounds.”
She looked at me.
“It sounds exactly like what it is.”
Claire sat down finally.
The fight had gone out of all of us.
What remained was accounting.
Not financial accounting.
Reality.
I asked about the money.
“Twelve thousand.”
Vanessa looked surprised.
“What?”
“The transfers from savings.”
She looked at the table.
“Was that for Boston?”
“Partly.”
Claire closed her eyes again.
Vanessa continued:
“I wasn’t stealing it.”
“It’s marital money.”
“I was going to account for it.”
“When?”
“I don’t know.”
“After you left?”
“I didn’t know if I was leaving.”
“Then why move it?”
“Because I needed something that was mine.”
I almost responded emotionally.
Rachel’s voice returned.
Do not turn tonight into a trial.
So I said:
“Fine.”
Vanessa looked up.
“Fine?”
“My attorney can deal with the accounting.”
That frightened her more than anger.
“You’re really doing this.”