The New Husband(92)
Nina thought grimly of Hugh’s words of warning, concluding that really nothing was safe. Marriages, new relationships, life itself, it was all incredibly fragile, it could all come undone with a single bite of food, one picture of a waitress, one warning from an ex-brother-in-law. The best Nina could do was to listen to her heart, trust her instincts, and those told her that Simon was good. More than good—throughout today’s horrifying ordeal, he had been a godsend. He had helped save her daughter’s precious life, and for that, she would be forever grateful.
Simon unloaded the car while Nina got the kids settled. Connor had stayed at home with Daisy, but the stress of the day worked as a sleeping potion. Both children were out as soon as their heads touched the pillow.
Nina returned to the kitchen, where she scoured the ingredients she had used for Maggie’s lunch, including the ones in those brownies.
“I’ve used that brownie mix before,” she said, sounding perplexed, looking through the trash for the box the mix had come in. “I don’t get it.”
“It’s probably some cross-contamination, like the doctor said,” Simon suggested. “Let me check the recycling bin.”
Simon went to the garage, and moments later he returned with a flattened box of brownie mix that made Nina do a double take.
“That’s not the brand I buy,” she said, taking the box from Simon. She went to the pantry where she kept other boxed mixes. “Here,” she said, showing Simon the mix she always bought. The packaging looked similar, but the box in Simon’s hand was a brand Nina had never purchased before. Using her phone, Nina checked an allergy website she turned to whenever a food item gave her any questions. Their motto—If You Can’t Read It, Don’t Eat It!—were words Nina lived by.
“This product isn’t safe,” Nina said, as she scanned the clear warning on the website indicating that this particular brownie mix was manufactured on equipment that also processed tree nuts and peanuts. “I wouldn’t have bought this.” Nina’s voice shook with anger and disbelief. “I’d never get this.”
Simon took the box from her and eyed it curiously.
“You went shopping a couple days ago, right? You must have been distracted,” he said. “You’ve got a lot on your plate. With Glen, your job—look, it’s too much for anyone. The mistake is completely understandable, but I’ve been warning you something bad might happen if you didn’t quit.”
How could I do that? Nina asked herself. It was so out of character. If anything, she was the most thoughtful and conscientious about ingredients in their food. It simply didn’t register.
A thought struck her. She could check. Nina went to the mudroom where she kept her purse. From inside she fished out her wallet. She always stuffed a stack of receipts in there, and soon enough found the one from her last shopping trip.
She scanned the items.
Fruits. Vegetables. Milk. Eggs. And toward the bottom were the packaged goods—pastas, canned soup, and there, near the very end, was a $3.99 purchase for her brand of brownie mix, the one she’d bought for years, the same mix she was sure she’d used to bake those brownies. The box Simon had shown was similar in appearance to her brand—both had large red logos—but the receipt was proof she hadn’t made a mistake.
Simon’s words struck her like a punch.
I’ve been warning you something bad might happen.
One warning too many. This one was like a flash of light exploding in her mind, blinding her momentarily. And then she could see it clearly, so it had to be possible.
She went from the mudroom to the bathroom directly off the kitchen, hoping she’d gone there unnoticed.
Closing the door gently, Nina locked it behind her, not wanting to say anything until her racing heart slowed enough for her thoughts to come together. Right now, those thoughts were flashes, quick answers to Hugh’s questions. Has he isolated you from your friends and family yet? Does he make you question things? Does he try to control your life?
She wanted so desperately to believe in Simon that she had bought into every rational explanation for every behavior. But now, seeing things in a new light, the answers to every one of Hugh’s questions was a resounding yes. She replayed the incidents one more time to make sure, categorizing them in her mind as she did. When she studied her reflection in the bathroom mirror, her hairstyle, so dramatically new and different, made Nina think a stranger was staring back at her.
If Simon had shown her the brownie mix she normally purchased, maybe she’d have believed cross-contamination. Instead, he went for something to make her doubt herself, to convince her that her work was making her careless and distracted, nearly causing the death of her daughter. Job or no job, Nina was too experienced, too damn vigilant, to make a mistake like that.
She thought of the wedge he’d begun to put between her and her parents. She thought of all the ways Simon had kept her from seeing Ginny and Susanna—all of it and more designed to make her doubt herself.
Why all this business with Maggie then? Nina tried to puzzle it out. Maggie wasn’t the source of Simon’s distress. It was the job, the damn job. She thought of Emma again, of Hugh’s warnings, and the answer was simple and in front of her all this time: control. If Maggie were in crisis, Nina would be forced to reexamine her priorities. Eventually, when it got bad enough, she’d have to quit. And now look what her job had done—or so Simon was saying. Just as he had said to Emma.