CHAPTER SIXTEEN #2
I pulled up in front of the house, relieved to see that the driveway was empty.
I didn’t think he’d be home, but you never knew.
If it hadn’t been for the gifts that kept arriving at my parents’ house, I would have wondered if he’d ever come home at all since he’d been with her.
I didn’t even know why he’d bothered apologizing. It was clear he was done with me.
I’d sent the flowers that were coming each day to the local nursing home. I’d sent the chocolates to the hospital. The nurses would know which patients could eat them. And if no one could, then the nurses could have a treat.
I’d kept the Jo Malone gifts, though. I freaking loved those soaps, perfumes, and candles.
I sucked in a couple of deep breaths, still trying to calm my stomach and make myself feel better about what was going on. I could do this. I could totally do this. I just had to be strong.
I got out and was about to head inside when Blair’s huge SUV pulled up. She got out, and I frowned.
“What are you wearing?” She was dressed in a very form fitting black shirt and pants.
“Long underwear.”
I was wearing jeans and a cream sweater with a pumpkin on it. “Why?”
“You said it was a spy mission. I just thought…” she gestured at herself, “this was the most spy-like clothing I had.”
“I think you and my dad should have done this together. He wanted to bring a gun and ‘accidentally’ shoot Thatcher if he came home.” I used finger quotes.
Blair nodded like this was an okay option. “I have mace in my bag.”
God. What was wrong with the people in my life?
“We don’t need to hurt him,” I assured her.
“We just need to have a story made up if he comes home and catches us digging around in his computer and iPad. I figured if we hear him open the door, we would just run to one of my closets and act like we were going through some clothes.”
“Good plan,” Blair nodded. “I would feel bad macing him anyway. Though when I think about what he did…”
Her cheeks grew flushed, so I hurried her inside before she could come up with another way to incapacitate Thatcher.
The house was silent and felt empty. It was as if it already knew things were changing. I glanced around at all the furniture and décor I’d picked out so carefully to make our home both appealing and beautiful. None of it mattered now. It felt tainted.
And I didn’t even like most of it. I’d gone with monochromatic shades of gray to make it more sophisticated.
I’d assumed correctly that’s what he’d be accustomed to.
Of course, he was also accustomed to antique furniture of the highest quality.
I hadn’t gone that far. It seemed insane to spend that kind of money on furniture.
“What are you staring at?” Blair asked, looking over my shoulder.
“Oh. I was just thinking that when I have my own house, I’m going to decorate with lots of color and fun fabrics.”
“There you go! Think of the positives. You lose a husband, but you gain a floral couch.” We both doubled over laughing, and I was glad Dad had told me I should bring Blair. Only she could somehow make me laugh while I was going through something so painful.
“Let’s go up to his office,” I said, wiping my eyes after I stopped laughing.
“Should I stay down here and keep watch? I don’t want him to sneak up on us and figure out what we’re doing.”
“No. I tipped the security guard at the gate a couple hundred bucks to call me if Thatch comes through while we’re here.”
Blair looked impressed. “Smart.”
Once we got into his office, I looked around. I felt a little overwhelmed. “Here,” I handed Blair his iPad, “you look for texts I might have missed that could be to or from Madison. I’ll go through his computer.”
He hadn’t changed the password on the computer. Unlike his phone, it was still our anniversary date. I gave that to Blair for the iPad. It worked there, too. He’d only been scared about me looking at his phone.
I went straight for his work email. It only took a couple of minutes of digging around to find a folder labeled ‘Ad Campaign.’ It might be dry, boring emails about the campaign, but it was worth a look.
When I opened it, I felt like someone punched me in the gut yet again.
They weren’t about the ad campaign. It was emails between Thatcher and Madison.
They ran the gamut, from somewhat innocent trips down memory lane between the two of them, to racier ones with her promising certain favors for him, to ones that were difficult to read.
They were about how much they loved each other and had meant to each other over the years.
I printed them all out.
“Did you find anything?” I asked Blair, still adding emails to the printer’s queue.
“I, um, did.”
I glanced up quickly. “What’s wrong?”
“I found a dummy app.” She bit her lip as she looked at me. “I saw that he had two notes apps on here and thought it was odd. One of them is notes, and the other is a dummy account he set up for all of his texts with Madison to come through so that you wouldn’t find anything on his phone.”
I hadn’t thought I could feel any worse.
I was wrong. “That absolute bastard,” I said through clenched teeth.
“I found some texts from Mads before I knew who Mads was. He told me they were from a man name Maddox Spiller. When I found out who Mads actually was, he told me he hadn’t texted her in weeks.
He handed me his phone to check, but I didn’t bother looking.
” I shook my head. “And all that time he knew he’d downloaded a fake app, so he didn’t have to worry about me finding it. ”
I stared into space for a few seconds.
“You okay?” Blair asked.
“Yeah.” I turned to her. “How did I end up married to an asshole?”
“I don’t know, sweetie. He had all of us fooled.”
I sighed, then frowned. “How did you know to look for dummy apps?”
Blair’s face turned red. “Um, well…”
My phone rang causing both of us to scream. It was clear we were a little on edge. I looked at the screen. “It’s him,” I said, panicked. “What do I do?”
“I don’t know. What if he’s on his way here? Or if he just pulled into the neighborhood and the guy at the gate ratted you out?”
I stared at her. “My God. Do you think he would do that?”
“Maybe.”
“We talked too long. It went to voicemail.”
Blair and I both stared at my phone, waiting to hear the sound that would signify he was finished.
I put it on speaker and pressed play as soon as it was ready.
“Hey, it’s me. Listen, I’m not sure if you’re even listening to these.
I know you’re at your parents’. I don’t blame you.
I know you have to be mad at me, and you have every right to be.
I am so sorry I got the date wrong for the Orchid Ball.
For some reason, I thought it was last Saturday instead of last Friday.
I didn’t realize I’d fucked up until I was on my way home Friday night and played my messages.
I hope you’ll let me make it up to you tonight.
I’d like to take you to La Maison. Just, um, give me a call back. ”
I met Blair’s eyes. “Now he wants to take me.” I rolled my eyes. “I begged him to take me there months ago. As if I’d want to go there now. Madison said La Maison was ‘their spot.’ What an ass.”
Blair looked at me sympathetically. “You still need to go through financial records, and then I think we need to get out of here.”
“I went through the finances in my mobile app,” I said, feeling miserable that I was having to do all of this. “There was nothing there.”
Blair winced. “I hate to say it, but you need to dig around on the computer and see if he has some hidden accounts.” Her eyes suddenly jerked up to meet mine. “Or he could be spending from his corporate account.”
My heart dropped. “I haven’t checked his corporate account,” I said with a groan.
It didn’t take long before it was clear that Blair was right. On a personal credit card I didn’t know he had, I found days and nights full of lunches and dinners. He’d spent tens of thousands on food alone for her. I fought back tears at the confirmation of my worst fears.
Thatcher had been having his affair for quite some time.
I wanted to stop, go to my room, throw myself on the bed, and cry for an hour or two, but I stayed strong.
I printed out every single instance where he’d obviously taken her out.
Then I moved to a different card. He’d been using more than one corporate account on her, it seemed.
This one appeared to be for gifts. Thatcher must have had a few jewelry stores he liked to frequent.
I started with those and again found tens of thousands of dollars in purchases that sure as hell hadn’t gone to me.
He’d forgotten my birthday completely this year, but it looked like he’d given Madison a twenty-five-thousand-dollar diamond bracelet as a mid-week surprise.
It wasn’t just jewelry, either. There were massive purchases from flower shops, chocolatiers, bakeries, clothing stores—the list went on and on.
Looking at the sheer volume of gifts he’d showered her with made me see just how little I’d meant to him.
I’d been content with a gift or two for my birthday and Christmas, considered myself lucky to get one on our anniversary, and never received ‘just because’ gifts of flowers or chocolates until now.
Those didn’t even count, in my book, since he was trying to get me to forgive him for missing the Orchid Ball.
I’d always thought he didn’t give a lot of gifts because Thatcher wasn’t very romantic.
It turned out that he just wasn’t very romantic with me.
I wiped away a few tears and tried to focus. I printed out copies of every bank statement, highlighting each dinner, each jewelry purchase. I wanted something to give to the lawyer at the three o’clock appointment.
I looked at the time. “Shit!”
Blair lurched up off the floor. “What? Oh my God, is he here?” she hissed.
“No. Sorry.” I couldn’t believe how fast her reflexes were.
She was up and ready to roundhouse kick anyone who walked through the office door before I’d gotten out of the office chair.
“I just need to get to the lawyer’s office.
He’s in Halliwell, and it’ll take me at least twenty minutes to get there. ”
“Do you want me to come with you?”
I gave her a hug. “No. But thank you for being here with me today. You helped so much.”
“When are you going to tell him you’re leaving him?” Blair asked.
“I’m not going to tell him. I’m just going to have him served with divorce papers at his stupid campaign launch party in front of everyone.”
Blair looked both shocked and impressed. “That’s… perfect.”
I nodded, trying to smile but feeling like crying. My emotions were all over the place.
Blair stood back, still holding onto my shoulders. “We’re going to get you through this. You’ll see. It might not feel like it right now, but you’re going to come out of this so much stronger and happier than you were.”
I could only hope she was right. Because right now? It just felt awful.