Chapter 6
He didn't answer immediately.
“That's not the point.”
“Then what is?”
He ran a hand over his mouth.
“I don't want you making a mistake.”
Michael lowered his coffee cup.
I looked at Daniel.
“A mistake?”
“You're vulnerable right now.”
Rachel turned toward him.
“Daniel.”
He continued.
“You've never been on your own. You don't know what these men are like.”
I stared at him.
“Which men?”
“Men who approach women coming out of long marriages.”
Michael coughed into his napkin.
I suspected he was trying not to laugh.
“Daniel,” I said, “Michael hasn't approached me in any way you need to worry about.”
“Then why won't you tell me who he is?”
“Because you haven't earned the right to interrogate me.”
That silenced him.
For several seconds, the only sounds came from the fireplace and the soft conversation of guests at the reception desk.
Then Daniel said something that made Rachel turn pale.
“I just don't want you replacing me.”
I looked at him.
So did Michael.
And Rachel.
Daniel seemed to realize what he'd said only after the words were already out.
Rachel stood slowly.
“Replacing you?”
He turned toward her.
“That's not what I meant.”
“Then what did you mean?”
He opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
Rachel looked from him to me.
“You told me you were finished with this marriage.”
“I am.”
“You told me there was nothing left between you.”
“There isn't.”
“Then why are you standing here acting like your wife belongs to you?”
Daniel lowered his voice.
“Rachel, we're not doing this here.”
She gave a short, humorless laugh.
“You brought me here tonight because you wanted to have a nice weekend together. We hadn't been through the lobby for thirty seconds before you forgot I was standing beside you.”
“That's ridiculous.”
“Is it?”
I felt profoundly uncomfortable.
Not because I wanted to protect Daniel.
Because I recognized the expression on Rachel's face.
I had worn it myself.
It was the look of a woman realizing that the person beside her was not telling the same story she had been told.
Rachel picked up her phone.
“I'm going upstairs.”
Daniel reached for her arm.
She stepped away.
“Don't.”
Then she walked toward the elevators.
Daniel watched her go.
For a moment, I thought he might follow.
Instead, he turned back toward me.
And something about that decision told me more than any of his messages had.