CHAPTER FOUR
Blair
Today was the day. I’d be stopping by Scott’s practice again, and I felt sure I’d catch the new employee there this time.
I was about to find out if my husband was being unfaithful. Again.
After I got the kids ready and everyone was settled in their respective schools, I went home and transformed myself for Scott’s final test. I evaluated my appearance in the full-length mirror in my closet.
I decided I looked good. I knew my strengths and had played them up.
I’d always been attractive, but I knew I wasn’t a knockout.
In our group of five growing up, Sadie was the pretty one, Carrie was the athletic one, Melinda was the funny one, I was the nice one, and Drake, the only guy, was the serious one.
We were actually all pretty; it was just that next to Sadie’s natural beauty the rest of us took a back seat.
But today, gone was the messy bun, makeup free face, yoga pants with a hole in the knee, and oversized sweatshirt.
In their place? I’d tamed my thick brown hair into long, smooth waves.
My makeup was on point thanks to Sutton making me watch a couple of TikToks for how middle-aged women should wear their makeup.
I tried to focus on the fact that she was trying to help me rather than that she thought I was middle-aged even though I was in my thirties.
I was wearing a cute sheath dress in a deep burgundy and three-inch heels.
I never wore heels that high unless we were going to an event of some sort. It was pretty hard to get me out of my Sketchers slip-ons.
I smoothed down my dress, did a final check in the mirror, and headed downstairs.
I used to drop in to see him at work all the time.
I mean, I was his part-time office manager for a couple of years when he was just getting started.
But now? I rarely went by unless there was a reason.
I almost never dropped in just to see him.
But I was going today. I grabbed the basket of cookies I’d made especially for this visit and headed out the door.
As I drove over, singing with Taylor Swift as loudly as I wanted to since no kids were with me, I tried not to think about why I was going.
It was a beautiful day, the sky was a vivid, bright blue, and the temperature had dropped into the low eighties.
For late August in Georgia, that was freaking amazing.
I waved at a few people I passed on the familiar streets and looked around at the downtown square of Indigo Falls.
I loved it here. Always had. My parents might have been of the absentee variety, but either Gam or Carrie’s parents made sure I got to go to harvest festivals, firework displays, the lighting of the green at Christmas, and everything in-between. I was grateful for that.
My heart rate picked up as I pulled onto a shady, tree-lined side street and saw Scott’s dental practice. I could no longer put off thinking about what I was about to do. I stopped the car and sat there for just a moment. I took deep breaths, steeling myself for what I might find when I went in.
Would Scott and his new assistant be hard at work or flirting with each other while they filled cavities? Would he be fucking her on the desk in his office? Or would everything be completely fine?
I was about to find out, and I wasn’t sure exactly how I felt. What did I want to find? If I was completely done with the marriage, done with him, then why were my hands sweaty? Why was my pulse rate up? And why did I have this awful sense of dread in the pit of my stomach?
If I had one foot out the door, why did I still care so much?
I took one last deep, cleansing breath, grabbed my basket of cookies, and went inside.
“Mrs. Hastings!” Donna, the beautiful Black woman who ran the business side of things, came hurrying out from behind the counter to give me a hug.
I accepted it gladly. “I’ve told you a bajillion times to call me Blair,” I chided her.
“I know, I know,” she laughed. “Old habits and all that.”
Donna had helped look after my brood of children while she was getting her associate’s degree in business.
When Scott got into a mess with his previous office manager, which was still a major part of why I wanted to leave him, I’d convinced him to give Donna a chance.
The rest was history. She was amazing at what she did, and she was a fantastic person on top of that.
“I brought these,” I said, gesturing to the hand-decorated sugar cookies. I looked around the waiting room, pleased that it was empty. I’d come right at the end of the lunch hour, when I was almost certain Scott would have some down time.
“Oh my lord,” she rolled her eyes, “I can already tell I’m going to have to step it up at the gym if you start bringing your cookies by.
” She did a double take when she started looking through the basket.
She held up one of the individually wrapped cookies.
It was in the shape of a tooth, and I’d created a fun facial design with the icing. “Teeth? How cute! You’re so talented.”
I waved off the compliment but thanked her.
I’d always been a bit uncomfortable with praise.
I talked to her for a few minutes, getting caught up on what was going on with her life.
She introduced me to some of the workers and hygienists I either hadn’t met or hadn’t seen in a long time.
My favorite employee of Scott’s, Lana, had retired just last year. I missed seeing her.
After several minutes of small talk, during which they all munched on a cookie, I knew it was time.
“Is Scott in his office or working on a patient?” I asked.
The reception area went quiet, and I saw some looks exchanged. Donna cleared her throat and looked a bit… nervous. “He’s actually in a meeting.” She picked up the in-house phone. “Let me call and see if he’s available…”
“Please don’t,” I said, not realizing how sharply I’d said it until she hurriedly replaced the phone in its cradle, her eyes wide.
I smiled to cover up the awkwardness of the moment. “I want to surprise him.”
“Oh. Okay, great,” Donna said, but she was unenthusiastic and her smile was strained.
“I’ll just go see him for a minute. I won’t interrupt much of his meeting, don’t worry.”
The looks on the faces of the women I’d just chatted with didn’t escape me. They didn’t want me going to his office. There was only one reason for that. He was cheating on me, and they didn’t know what I was about to walk in on.
I was grateful they’d put in a carpet runner in the center of the hallway so my clicking heels didn’t alert him to my presence.
I had a couple of cookies in my hand—I had to have a reason I stopped by—and I maneuvered them so I’d be able to turn the doorknob.
My heart was pounding even though I was already sure of what I was about to walk in on.
I knocked at the same time I opened the door. “Knock knock,” I said as I entered the office I’d decorated years ago.
Scott was standing by the window with a short blonde woman.
She was pretty, dressed in business attire, and clearly not a dental assistant.
At least not today. She also looked a hell of a lot like Scarlett, the dental assistant he’d emotionally cheated with.
At least, that’s what he claimed. I still wondered if they’d had something physical going on.
This woman wasn’t as beautiful as Scarlett was, but she was pretty enough to make me nervous. She wasn’t the kind of woman anyone would want their husband to hang out with in a closed-door setting. Especially when I knew he’d been texting and emailing her at all hours of the evening.
They were standing close together and laughing. Her hand was on his arm, and he was leaning in towards her. I couldn’t tell if he was about to kiss her, or if he just wanted to hear her better. Either way, they jumped apart when they saw me.
“Blair,” Scott said, eyes wide. He looked panicked.
He looked guilty.
So did the woman. She was staring at me as if she’d seen a ghost, her face pale, blue eyes wide.
I cocked my head and set my jaw. He was cheating on me. I’d confirmed it. Yes, they hadn’t been kissing or actively having sex on his desk or anything, but they were obviously up to something. And they were close; they seemed to know each other very well.
“What… what are you doing here?” he asked in an accusatory tone.
“I brought some cookies by. What are you doing?”
“Nothing,” he said quickly taking another few steps away from the blonde woman. “I was just talking to…”
“Save it,” I said calmly. I walked over and dropped the tooth cookies on his desk. “I’m done, Scott. You’ll be hearing from my attorney.” I wanted to throw the cookies at him, but I restrained myself.
“What?” he gasped.
“I won’t stand by while you have another affair, emotional or physical.”
He turned and stared at the woman, who looked equally horrified. And maybe a little scared of me. She was a petite little thing. I could easily take her.
Forget the fact that I’d never hit anyone in my life.
“This isn’t what it looks like…”
I snorted with laughter. “You are the worst cliché ever! Do you know that every single man having an affair in a book or a movie says that exact same thing? And ten out of ten times, it’s exactly what it looked like.
Nope. I’m not falling for that shit.” I crossed my arms over my chest as if I could protect my broken heart.
“I forgave you for the affair with Scarlett. I forgave you when I heard you saying horrible things about me at that awful Christmas party years ago in Halliwell. I’ve put up with you being barely interested in your family.
I run every single aspect of our household while you treat me like a nanny or a maid…
unless we’re in bed. That’s the only time you seem to even notice me.
” I glanced at the horrified looking blonde.
I gestured to her. “And now it seems you’ve been getting plenty of that on the side, too. ”
The woman sucked in a breath and her face turned bright pink. “Excuse me…”
“I’m not going to fight with you,” I cut her off. “Honey, you can have him. Just know that he might be great in the sack, but he will treat you like you’re nothing everywhere else. Take him. I don’t want him anymore.”
I dropped a card on Scott’s desk. “This is my lawyer. You’ll be hearing from him soon.
Find somewhere else to live, because you can’t come home.
” He opened his mouth, but I held up my hand.
“Save it. You don’t get to stay in the house.
I’m not packing six children and myself up to go stay somewhere else. You’re just one person. Figure it out.”
I turned on my heel to leave.
“Blair, no! Don’t do this. Please.”
His voice was agonized, and it almost made me doubt my conclusion. Almost. “What? Are you worried about finding a place to stay? Move in with her.” I nodded to the woman. “Just know that she’s not going to be around my kids in any capacity until we have this settled.”
“What are you even talking about?” he was frustrated.
I raised my eyebrows and leaned back towards him. I thought I’d made it clear, but maybe he was in shock that I’d finally done something about his behavior.
“I want a divorce.”
***
I’d held it together as I’d stormed out of the dental office with him following me, begging and pleading for me to listen. I ignored him, said, “It was great to see you, Donna,” and left. I didn’t even blink when I looked in the rearview mirror and saw him running after my car.
Instead, I sped up.
It was over. I’d done it. He’d failed the crucial test. I meant less than nothing to him, or he wouldn’t be able to do these things to me. My hands were shaking from the adrenaline coursing through my body, and I could feel tears welling in my eyes.
I tried to push back all of my emotions and just focus on driving.
The beautiful day had inexplicably given way to a downpour, and it was difficult to see very far in front of me.
I gripped the wheel and tried to steady my breathing.
All I had to do now, was go home and call the lawyer Jack had referred.
I was thinking about packing a couple of bags with some of Scott’s essentials in them and throwing them out on the lawn.
“Would that be too dramatic…” I said to myself just as I went through a busy intersection. I was thankful I could still see the traffic light at least. Its green light shone down and illuminated some of the rivulets of water running down my windshield. They looked like tears.
I heard the screech of brakes somewhere nearby.
The impact took me totally by surprise. I didn’t even see the vehicle that hit me. All I knew was that one second I was driving, the next I was airborne. Then there was another impact, followed by my car turning over and over like a deranged ride at the fair.
Then there was nothing but pain.
So, so much pain. I couldn’t even breathe it hurt so badly. I registered that the liquid running over my face, arms, and legs was blood—not rainwater or my own tears as I’d first thought.
And then everything went dark.