Chapter 23
23
NOW
Aimee has just put the chicken in the oven when Scott comes in the front door. Benji and Max run up to him and give him big hugs as he hangs up his coat. He holds up a bag.
“Stopped by the bakery on my way home and bought some black-and-white cookies.”
Aimee takes the bag from him and sees there is an elephant ear inside for her. His attempt to butter her up. But it will take a lot more than her favorite pastries to assuage her. She wants answers.
Aimee sets the timer for twenty-five minutes and checks on the potatoes. She wanted to serve a real dinner tonight, the whole family sitting down together. Since Anton’s death, they’ve been grabbing what they can eat, ordering takeout, and eating frozen food. If she is being honest, she and Scott have let family mealtime slip a little over the past few months.
But getting through dinner will be challenging when what she really wants to do is grab Scott by his shirt and drag him into the next room to yell at him. She is torn between grilling her husband in fury and playing nice, enjoying a pleasant family meal. A part of her worries this might be their last one for a while. She is more than a little afraid that what he is going to tell her will change the way she sees him. And she’s not ready to say goodbye to the version of Scott she’s been in love with for so long.
“Smells good.” He comes up beside her. “Can I help? How about a glass of wine?”
“Sure,” Aimee says, watching him take a bottle from the fridge and open it. He’s on his best behavior. Not the distracted, overworked Scott of the past few months, but her old Scott. Cheery and easygoing. The Scott she met and fell in love with at a co-ed kickball league on the National Mall. A friend from college begged her to come bolster the number of women on the team—they needed a certain threshold to play in the league. Afterward, they all went to the Big Hunt in Dupont Circle. She and Scott were friends first. It wasn’t until he helped her move out of a group house on Q Street and into an apartment in Mount Pleasant that he confessed his feelings for her. She thought he was just being nice, and he thought it was funny that she hadn’t picked up on his signals. That was almost fifteen years ago.
Aimee accepts a glass.
“To us,” Scott says, holding up his.
“To the truth.” Aimee clinks her glass against his and takes a sip. “I’m looking forward to hearing it. All of it.”
“I deserve that. I’ve been holding back. But tonight I am going to tell you everything. I swear. As soon as the kids are in bed, I will explain it all. Jon Block. The money. You can ask me anything. I promise.”
She nods. “All right.”
“I want to make this right with us. I know I haven’t been honest with you. I told myself I was trying to protect you, but the truth is that I was ashamed.”
“Why? What have you done to be ashamed of?”
He smiles sadly. “Can we wait until tonight? Have a nice dinner with the kids at least? Where is Noa, by the way?”
“Oh, shoot.” Aimee puts her glass down. “She’s at Cathy’s. I’m supposed to grab her. Listen, if the oven beeps while I’m out, take the chicken out, okay?” She goes to the mudroom for her jacket and keys. As she walks through the dining room to the front hall, she sees Scott peering out the window.
“You better come see this,” he says. “You’re not going to believe it.”
Aimee rushes to the window, where it takes her a second to make out Gwen and Lisa tussling on her walkway.
“Aimee!” Gwen yells up at the house. “Aimee!”
Aimee goes to the front door and opens it. The two women stop moving and look up at her. Aimee steps outside. “What is going on? Did something happen?”
Lisa steps forward. “Gwen has had a little too much to drink. I’m trying to get her home. She forgot her shoes.”
Aimee looks down and, sure enough, Gwen is barefoot. Her chest tightens. Poor Gwen. She’s falling apart before everyone’s eyes. Scott comes out on the porch. “How about I grab Noa while you deal with this?”
“Thank you,” Aimee says. “I’ll text you the address. Just head out River Road toward Potomac.”
They all watch Scott get in his car and drive away. Aimee texts him Cathy’s address and then approaches Gwen, who won’t make eye contact.
“Honey, you okay?” She reaches out and touches Gwen’s arm. “Do you want to come inside? Your feet must be freezing.”
“Gwen is very upset,” Lisa says. “I think I should just take her home.”
“Don’t.” Gwen whips her head around to face Lisa. “You don’t get to speak for me.” She turns back to Aimee. “Anton was cheating on me. With Lisa. They were sleeping together.”
Aimee winces, as much from the words as the vitriol in her friend’s voice. “No, that can’t be right.” She peers past Gwen to Lisa. “Lisa, is that true?”
“Of course not.” Lisa shakes her head and sighs. “She’s jumped to some crazy conclusions. Talking about some pen?”
Aimee nods, not quite sure what to believe. “Okay, I’ll get her home. Thanks, Lisa.”
Aimee pulls Gwen closer. “She was fucking my husband,” she says.
Startled, Aimee shushes her. “Let’s try and keep our voices down, huh?” She shoots Lisa a look of sympathy. “I better take it from here.”
But Lisa doesn’t walk away. She steps a bit closer. “Maybe I should come with you. So I can explain.”
“Not now, Lisa. Maybe later.”
“When? She’s only going to tell you her side. She’s going to tell you lies.”
“There are no sides. Gwen needs my help right now. We can talk later.”
Aimee takes a shivering Gwen inside and puts her on the couch, wrapping a blanket around her feet and bringing her a box of tissues. Sababa, once unleashed, runs off to explore the house. She knows he’s found the boys’ room when Max and Benji erupt in squeals of laughter.
“I am so sorry.” Gwen wipes at the tears that are coming from her eyes.
“You want to tell me what’s going on? What were you doing in the street?”
“I went to Lisa’s to confront her.”
Aimee nods. “And what makes you think Anton and Lisa were having an affair?”
Aimee shrugs. “A lot of little things. That pen that Noa took from Lisa’s. Anton went to that restaurant in Tampa last year. Le Cannu.”
Aimee chews her lower lip for a second, measuring her words. “Is there anything else?”
“Yes, there’s more. I don’t feel like getting into it.” She puts the tissues down and looks straight at Aimee. Her friend, normally so pulled together, is almost unrecognizable. Her skin blotchy, her eyes red and swollen. “You believe me, right? I feel like I’m losing my mind.”
The oven lets out three short beeps. Aimee jumps up, grateful to have an excuse to avoid answering the question. “Stay here. I need to take out the chicken.”
Aimee takes the chicken out of the oven and lines it up on the counter, cafeteria-style, next to the potatoes and broccoli. She calls Benji and Max, oversees them washing their hands, picks off a little chicken for Sababa, and then sets the boys up in the family room in front of the TV.
She makes two more plates and carries them back to where Gwen is curled up on the sofa like a pill bug.
“Gwen, honey, I have dinner.” Aimee puts the two plates on the coffee table and kneels by her friend, stroking her hair.
“I’m not hungry,” Gwen mumbles.
“You have to eat. You have to keep your strength up. Where are the boys?”
“My mom’s over there. She’s watching them.”
Aimee sighs with relief. The boys are being looked after, at least.
After some prodding, she convinces Gwen to sit up and take a few small bites of chicken and potatoes. The bites are minuscule, not nearly enough for a grown woman to live on and no match for the alcohol she’s obviously been imbibing. She’s in much worse condition than Aimee realized. A wave of guilt hits her. It feels like watching a drowning friend from the safety of the shore. Only she can’t dive in and save her.
“Do you mind if I close my eyes for just a few minutes?” Gwen fluffs a pillow and places it under her head.
“Of course.” Aimee leaves her on the sofa and takes the opportunity to check on the half-dozen New England Asters that are in pots resting in a shady spot on the side of her house. She’s going to plant them at a client’s in a few days, but with the warm weather she needs to make sure they don’t dry out before then.
When she’s done watering the Asters, she comes inside the back just as the front door opens, and Noa yells, “Mom! I’m hungry!”
Aimee lets out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding. Thank God Scott is back. He’s not going to believe what happened with Gwen and Lisa in the street. “Dinner is in the kitchen,” Aimee calls out as she walks toward the foyer. “Wash hands.”
But as Aimee enters the foyer, the person walking through the front door is not Scott. It’s Cathy.
Aimee stops short. “Cathy. Hi. What are you doing here?”
“I’m so sorry to show up like this. I called.” Cathy looks sharp in a burgundy crushed velvet blazer and bright lipstick.
Aimee looks at her phone, and sure enough she has a missed call from ten minutes ago. “Oh, I was distracted with something, and I didn’t hear the phone.”
“I have dinner plans tonight. I hope you don’t mind my dropping Noa.” She smiles apologetically. “I couldn’t wait any longer or I’d be late.”
“I understand, of course. But what about Scott?”
Cathy’s eyes widen behind her thick black glasses. “Beats me. I waited and waited, but your husband never showed up.”