The Liar's Wife

by Kiersten Modglin

  “No,” I said, casting my eyes to the ground.

  He inhaled, directing the rest of the conversation directly at me. “Well, I’d suggest you get one. If this guy does come back, it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

  Chapter Twelve

  “It’s so good to see you, Palmer,” Ty said, his dark skin crinkling around his eyes as he smiled and pulled me into a hug. I reached for Dannika next. “I’m sorry Ben and Gray couldn’t come. I was hoping to meet your little guy finally. Dannika just raves about him.”

  It had been more than a month since our last double date with Dannika and her husband, Ty, and I couldn’t help feeling sad that I’d had to lie about the pretenses for needing to see them as well as why Ben couldn’t join us.

  Ty pulled Dannika’s seat out, letting her sit before he did. “Yeah, he wanted to be here. He just had some errands he had to take care of this morning. Life as a stay-at-home dad doesn’t leave much room for free time.”

  Ty’s brow shot up. “I’d imagine so, and I can’t say I envy him.”

  The waitress approached our table and took our orders. When she left, we carried on.

  “I think he enjoys it, actually, and I can’t say I’m not a little jealous myself.” I unfolded my napkin and placed it in my lap.

  Ty leaned back in his chair with a deep, warm chuckle. “Wait ’til you have three. Trust us, you’ll be aching for a chance to get to work.”

  Dannika nodded in agreement, casting a joy-filled glance at her husband. “She doesn’t know about that yet. You just let them enjoy the fun honeymoon phase while it lasts.” She patted his chest lovingly.

  Ty lifted his fingers from the table, keeping his wrist in place. “Fair enough. Just, like she said, enjoy it while it lasts because it does not.”

  I laughed. “How are things at the firm, Ty?”

  Having my best friend’s husband be a divorce attorney hadn’t been planned, but using it to my advantage was definitely a perk.

  “Well, like I said, that honeymoon phase doesn’t last, and that just happens to make me a whole lot of money.” His eyes grew wide with pleasure as he spoke, his thin, black mustache bouncing with each word. “We’ve been busier than usual even, I think it’s the summer heat, but I can’t complain.” He elbowed Dannika. “Even if I wanted to, she wouldn’t let me.”

  “I told him about your big client, Palmer. About what it could mean for us,” Dannika said, her teeth bared with hope.

  “Dani’s been bragging on you. I know how hard you’ve both worked to get where you are. It sounds like you’ll be ready to open up shop soon, huh?”

  “That’s the hope,” I said, taking a deep breath. “I’m always the cautious one, especially with Gray now.”

  “Hey, I get it,” he said, his expression serious. “It took me years to pull the trigger on going out on my own. Dani was always the one pushing me to do it.”

  “And I was right, wasn’t I?” she asked, lips pursed. “Just like I’ll be right this time.”

  “Yeah, you were. You’re always right.” He leaned over, pressing his lips to hers. When they broke apart, the waitress appeared with our food and drinks. Ty leaned back, letting her place Dannika’s plate in front of her, then Ty’s, and finally mine. We were stark opposites: Dannika and Ty with their salmon and salad and me with my BLT and fries. I really should’ve attempted to learn some good habits from them.

  “So, I have a question.” I popped a fry in my mouth, trying to appear more casual than I felt. My hands were shaking, and I hoped he wouldn’t notice. I’d been rehearsing the question all morning, trying to decide the best way to bring it up. Best case, he’d ask me if I was considering divorce randomly, as a sales pitch, which of course didn’t happen. So we were going with the worst case now.

  “What’s that?” Dannika asked, already cutting into her meat.

  “It’s for Ty, actually. A friend of mine is…well, she’s considering getting a divorce. I was wondering if I could get some free legal advice for her?” I winced.

  He took a bite, a closed-mouth grin growing on his lips. When he swallowed, he said, “Sure thing. Whatcha got?”

  “Who’s the friend?” Dannika asked as she popped a bite into her mouth. “Anyone I know?”

  “Just someone I went to school with,” I said, probably too quickly. “You don’t know her.”

  She nodded, taking another bite of her food and looking at Ty, who was looking at me.

  “She thinks her husband could be cheating on her,” I said.

  “Oh, no,” Dannika said, her voice low.

  “Yeah, but, I mean, she doesn’t have a ton of money, but the money they do have is hers. It was hers before they met. A savings account and a few CDs. She doesn’t want to leave him if it will mean splitting everything.” I paused, watching his expression, which turned serious rather quickly.

  “Well, as far as the marital estate, there’s not much that can be done unless there was a prenup in place. But, alimony…alimony can be affected by an affair, if there’s irrefutable proof an affair occurred. Does she have proof? You said she thinks he could be cheating… She doesn’t know for sure?”

  I shook my head, letting what he’d said wash over me. If I were to leave Ben, half of what I’d worked for, sacrificed for my whole life, would legally belong to him. All because he’d cheated on me. I tried to keep the heartbreak from being too evident on my expression, though I doubted I was doing very well. “No, she doesn’t know for sure. She’s caught him with a woman, lying about where he was, but she still hasn’t found proof that anything happened between them. They met in public.”

  He inhaled through his shimmery, white teeth. “See, that’s where she needs to start. Has she brought up the affair to him yet? Does he know she’s suspicious? If he lied to her about it, I guess so…”

  “Well, no. He doesn’t know. At least, not as far as I know. She asked him where he was and he lied, but she didn’t confront him about it.”

  He took another bite, chewing thoughtfully. “Your friend’s a smart girl. My advice would be, before she says or does anything, she needs to get proof. Cell phone records, bank records, photos, video…whatever she can get. The more evidence she could present to a judge, the better. Then, once she has what she thinks is enough, she should talk to a lawyer, make sure the case is solid, before she serves him with the papers. Did you give her my number?”

  Dannika was watching me closely, and I felt my face warming under her scrutiny. “I haven’t yet. Do you have a business card?”

  “Sure thing,” he said, pulling a business card carrier from his pocket on demand. He slid a card to me across the table. “Tell her to give me a call before she does anything rash. Even if I can just answer some questions.”

  “Thank you,” I said, placing the card into my purse in the seat next to me. “You’re the best, Ty.”

  He grinned. “I’m happy to help. Plus Dannika’d kill me if I didn’t.” He winked.

  “No, I wouldn’t,” she said, her lips pressed together as sarcasm hung on her words. “I’d need you to get me off the murder trial.”

  “I don’t do criminal trials, so you’d be out of luck, but fair enough,” Ty said as I giggled. They’d been married eighteen years, had three beautiful children and a lifetime of stories, and still, they were perfect. All I’d ever wanted was to have something like they did. When I’d met Ben, I was sure I’d found it. But apparently I’d been wrong. Again. I was starting to think I’d never have what they did. Maybe I wasn’t worthy of that forever kind of love after all. It seemed so few people were lucky enough to get it.

  “You okay, Palmer?” Dannika asked, and I realized my vision had begun to blur with tears.

  I dusted them away quickly, forcing a warm smile. “I’m fine. Just my allergies.”

  She nodded, still watching me closely. It was uncomfortable the way she was locked into me, but I couldn’t blame her. She knew me better than anyone. Which meant, try as I might to deny it, she kne
w when I was lying.

  Chapter Thirteen

  The next day, the phone rang from the cupholder of my car, and I glanced down. The office. I knew who it was and why she was calling. Unlike Cumberland, and even Howie to some extent, Dannika wasn’t buying my lies about going to client meetings. She knew how I worked, and she knew something was up. But I couldn’t tell her. Couldn’t explain to her what was going on when I still had no idea myself.

  I pressed the volume button, silencing it, and stared into the large, glass windows of the restaurant. It was raining outside, which I hoped would mean Ben would choose to stay home. Instead, just thirty minutes after I left the house, he departed from the building with Gray in his arms. This time, instead of walking toward the park, they walked around the building and, for a brief moment, I lost sight of them. Just as I started the car and made my way back down the street, his car pulled out. I froze, panicked that he’d see me, but he didn’t seem to. Instead, he pulled out like normal and headed in the opposite direction. I stayed a car or two behind him, turning down separate streets and keeping a safe distance, but never losing sight of him completely.

  He got on the interstate, headed toward Crestview, and I felt the last bit of hope collapse inside of me. I’d thought—hoped—he’d be going anywhere else, but he wasn’t. He was going to see her again. Finally, all my suspicions were confirmed. This was real. It was really happening.

  He surprised me by taking an exit that was still a few miles shy of Crestview and pulling into a restaurant parking lot on the outskirts of Oceanside.

  I pulled into a parking garage, inserting seven dollars in cash from my wallet, and took a spot near the edge. I climbed from the car and stepped in front of the hood, looking out over the waist-high concrete partition. I could see into the restaurant across the street, where Ben and Gray had taken a table near the window. He was holding Gray against his chest, my son sleeping in his arms, and he watched out the window. Watched for her.

  Fifteen minutes after they arrived, Kat showed up. With each click of her heels across the concrete, inaudible from where I stood so many feet up, yet painful just the same, I felt my anger growing. Ben was smiling when she walked in the restaurant, and he turned his back to me as I watched her approach him.

  She sat down in the booth next to him, their skin touching. It was killing me. My insides bubbled with anger and fear. How long would it take him to leave me? How long had he been seeing her in the first place? How dare she? How dare he? Would she tell him about seeing me at the salon? Did she even know me? She had to know he had a wife. He had a son, for crying out loud. Had he killed me off in some fantasy life with her?

  I felt tears prick my eyes, but brushed them away, holding my phone up and snapping a picture of the two of them. I clicked on the lower left screen, pulling up the photo.

  From this far away, the picture was blurry, misshapen, and dark from the glare on the glass. It would never work. I needed to get down to their level. Get closer. But I couldn’t chance them seeing me. The warning Ty had given rang through my head. I had to get proof before he found out I knew. I had to.

  I stood, leaning against the concrete as I stared down at my husband, child, and the stranger, feeling sick. I wanted to walk away, I was no use to anyone standing there, but I couldn’t make myself move. I wanted to take my son away from him. How dare he bring him, the child I’d just had ripped from my womb, and share him with someone else? He was mine. Mine.

  I snapped another, albeit blurry, photo of the three of them together, her practically hanging off his arm as she stared down at my son. One way or another, I was going to fix this. For me. For Gray.

  My teeth ground down so hard I winced, releasing the tension. The waitress approached their table and took their orders. I could see the way she was looking at them, as if they were the perfect family.

  To unknowing eyes, I knew that’s what they looked like.

  To mine, they were a family destined to be torn apart. And mine would be the hands to do the tearing.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Ben surprised me by staying at the restaurant well past lunch, well past the time that their table was cleared and the waitress had gone from enchanted to annoyed.

  When they finally decided to leave, separating from each other and walking in opposite directions, I slipped my phone back into my pocket. I’d taken three photos, all blurry, during their dinner. I couldn’t take them to Ty. It was embarrassing enough having to go to him at all. I couldn’t bring him photos that were so pixelated and grainy you couldn’t tell who they were or what was happening in them.

  Ben pulled out, though rather than turning left, he turned right, then right again. We were going in the opposite direction of home. Why?

  He took the turn onto the interstate, and I hung back, waiting until they were several cars ahead of me to follow him. He was heading to Crestview. Even before I knew it, I knew.

  I should’ve stopped him. Called him and told him I knew everything, but if I wanted this to work, I couldn’t. If he was going to be entitled to half my life savings, when he’d come into the marriage with none, I was going to make sure he wasn’t entitled to alimony. And to do that, as sick as it made me, I had to let it play out.

  Kat’s car was nowhere in sight. He wasn’t following her. He knows the way to her house without following her. He’s been there enough that he has it memorized. The realization struck me, and that fact, more than anything else, broke my heart. He’d been there before. How many times? While I was pregnant? While I was dealing with morning sickness and mood swings and an unbearable fear of what I was doing, was he coming to Crestview to see his mistress? Was he pretending I didn’t exist when he was with her?

  I batted back tears, turning onto the Crestview exit after he did. He turned right, rather than left, and I grew hopeful for a second. Maybe I’d been wrong.

  Eventually, though, he pulled into the drive of the familiar house and climbed from the car just as I made a lap. For fear he’d see my car and recognize it, I parked this time in front of the house behind hers, on a completely separate street. The driveway was empty, lights off. No signs of life.

  I climbed from the car and rushed across the road, darting through the yard of the empty house. From their backyard, I could clearly see into Kat’s. I stared at the tree house where I’d hidden before. I’d have to be even more careful this time, especially with Ben there. I’d been so lucky last time, but that may not be the case anymore.

  I stepped into her backyard, hurrying across the ankle-high grass and toward the tree. I launched myself onto it, placing a foot on the first rung, when I heard the back door open. My stomach hurt from the sudden burst of movement, but I had to keep moving.

  Shoot.

  Shoot.

  Shoot.

  Shoot.

  I climbed the ladder quickly, keeping my arms and legs as close together as possible to avoid sticking out behind the width of the tree. I shoved myself up, laying flat on the floor of the tree house with a pounding heart and ice-cold veins. Who was it? Who was coming? Had they seen me?

  I didn’t dare lift my head, too afraid of who’d be looking back at me.

  “That’s better, isn’t it, little guy?” I heard her ask. I lifted my head on instinct. To my great relief, they weren’t looking for me and hadn’t discovered me. I shifted my weight, sliding my legs against the wooden floor until I was in a crouched position. I pushed up, moving a millimeter a second as I inched my way across the tree house and toward the window.

  Once I’d reached it, I lifted up, staring down at the scene below. Ben and Kat were sitting on her patio, Gray resting peacefully in her arms. It stung. Worse than Ben betraying me, Gray had done so, too. I knew it wasn’t rational, but that’s how it felt. Seeing him so close to her, his little fist gripping the fabric of her shirt, it was enough to make me sick. I couldn’t stop the hot, angry tears from falling as I watched them together.

  “He likes you,” Ben said, cocking his he
ad to the side to look at her. My hands balled into fists.

  “Of course he does,” Kat said. “Everyone likes me.” Not everyone, I assure you. “Oh, Ben, he’s so perfect.”

  I could hear the smile in his voice, despite not being able to see it. “I think he’s pretty great, too.” He sighed, leaning back and resting his arms behind his head. He glanced up at the tree house, and I shot down, breathing heavily. Did he see me? “He’d love growing up in a place like this.”

  “I wish he could,” she said sadly. “I always dreamed of my kids playing in this yard. In my old tree house.”

  They were silent, and I didn’t dare stand back up. My heart thudded so loudly I was sure they could hear it. A spider crawled across the board above my hand, and I jerked it back, suppressing a scream. Down below, Gray began to fuss.

  “Oh, no, sweet boy. Don’t cry. Momma’s here.”

  My stomach tensed at her words, and I had to squeeze the board in front of me to keep from launching from the tree house, Spiderman-style. I couldn’t stop myself from looking back out the window, where Kat could be seen, lowering the edge of her shirt for my son and placing him to her breast.

  No.

  I saw red, my vision blurry with rage as I fought back bile and tried to rein in my fury.

  I wanted to kill her.

  I wanted to kill him.

  I looked at Ben, who, to my relief, looked concerned.