Chapter 5
But it didn't last.
“He's been under a lot of stress,” she said.
I almost smiled.
There it was.
The familiar excuse.
The one I had made for Daniel for nearly three decades.
He's tired.
He's worried about work.
He's dealing with pressure.
He didn't mean it that way.
I knew every version.
“Rachel,” I said gently, “you don't have to explain his behavior to me. I spent twenty-seven years doing that myself.”
Her lips parted, but she didn't answer.
Then a voice came from behind her.
“Claire.”
Daniel stood a few feet away.
His coat was open, his jaw tight, and his eyes were fixed on Michael.
He barely acknowledged Rachel.
“I need to speak to my wife.”
Michael remained seated.
I folded my hands in my lap.
“About what?”
Daniel glanced at Rachel.
“Can you give us a minute?”
She stared at him.
“I came downstairs because you wouldn't stop talking about her.”
“Rachel, not now.”
“Actually,” she said, “I think now is exactly the time.”
Daniel looked irritated.
Then he turned toward Michael.
“Would you mind leaving us alone?”
Michael smiled politely.
“Yes.”
Daniel blinked.
“Yes, you mind?”
“Very much.”
For the first time that evening, I saw Daniel lose the easy authority that had always served him so well.
He was accustomed to people accommodating him.
Especially me.
“Who are you?” he demanded.
Michael looked at me.
“Should I tell him?”
I took a sip of water.
“Not yet.”
Daniel's face darkened.
“Claire, this isn't funny.”
“I wasn't laughing.”
“You were laughing when I walked in.”
“Yes. Michael was telling me a funny story.”
“What kind of story?”
I set down my glass.
“Daniel, do you hear yourself?”
He took a step closer.
“We've been married twenty-seven years.”
“I know exactly how long we've been married.”
“And you're sitting here flirting with another man?”
Rachel made a small, disbelieving sound.
Daniel ignored her.
“Are you seeing him?”
I felt the old impulse rise.
Explain.
Reassure.
Make him comfortable.
Tell him Michael was an old friend. Tell him about Buckeye Lake. Tell him there was nothing romantic happening.
Then I remembered the way Daniel had walked through that lobby with Rachel's hand in his.
How easily he'd accepted the right to start another life while assuming mine would remain suspended.
So I asked him a question instead.
“Would it change anything?”
Daniel frowned.
“What?”
“If I were seeing someone, would that change anything about your decision to live with Rachel?”