The Wife Between Us(28)

“I—” Nellie burst into tears. She’d managed to upset Sam, too.

Sam spun around. “Whoa. What’s going on?”

Nellie shook her head. “Everything.” She choked back a sob. “I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you I was leaving. . . .”

“Thank you for saying that. I have to admit I was pissed, especially since you showed up late to dinner.”

“I didn’t want to leave, but Sam . . . I kissed Nick.”

“I know. I saw.”

“Yeah, Richard saw, too.” Nellie dried her eyes with a paper napkin. “He was really upset. . . .”

“Did you work it out?”

“Sort of. He had to go to Atlanta this morning, so we didn’t get to talk much. . . . But Sam, this woman called his apartment this morning when I was there alone. She wouldn’t give her name. And then Richard’s neighbor told me his ex came by last week.”

“What? He’s still seeing her?”

“No,” Nellie said quickly. “She just came to return something. She left it with the doorman.”

Sam shrugged. “That sounds innocent enough.”

Nellie hesitated. “But it ended between them months ago. Why is she returning it now?” She wasn’t sure why she hadn’t revealed to Sam that she suspected the item was actually a gift Richard had given his ex when they were together. And if it was from Tiffany’s, it was likely expensive.

Sam took a sip of coffee, then handed the mug to Nellie, who also took a sip. “Why don’t you ask Richard about it?”

“I guess . . . I feel like it shouldn’t bother me.”

“Huh.” Sam took a bite of bagel and chewed. Nellie’s stomach clenched when she began to unwrap her own sandwich. Her appetite had vanished.

“I thought she was completely out of the picture. This is totally random, okay? But those weird phone calls I’ve been getting . . .”

“It’s her?”

“I don’t know,” Nellie whispered. “But isn’t it a coincidence that they started right after I got engaged to Richard?”

Sam didn’t seem to have an answer for that.

“And there was this moment this morning after I said hello when all I could hear was breathing. It was just like those other calls. Then this woman asked for Richard, so . . . I sound sort of crazy when I say it aloud.”

Sam put down her bagel and gave Nellie a quick, hard hug. “You’re not crazy, but you need to talk to Richard. They were together a long time, right? Don’t you deserve to know about that part of his life?”

“I’ve tried.”

“It isn’t fair that he shuts you down like that.”

“He’s a guy, Sam. He doesn’t feel the need to talk things to death like we do.” Like you do, Nellie thought.

“Sounds like you haven’t talked about it at all.”

Nellie let that go. She and Sam rarely argued. Nellie didn’t want to dig into this. “He told me they just grew apart. It happens, right?”

But Richard had said one more thing. It seemed especially significant now.

She wasn’t who I thought she was.

Those had been his exact words. Nellie had been taken aback by the disgust twisting Richard’s face when he’d uttered them.

Her roommate would certainly have some thoughts on that.

But Sam was wearing the same inscrutable expression that had come over her features when Nellie told her about the house Richard had bought. She’d worn that look the day Nellie came home wearing the engagement ring, too.

“You’re right,” Nellie said lightly. “I’ll ask him again.”

She could tell Sam wasn’t through with the conversation, but Nellie felt protective of Richard. She’d wanted Sam to reassure her about Richard’s ex, not point out the flaws in Nellie’s relationship with him.

Nellie grabbed a few shopping bags that were wedged into the narrow slot between the refrigerator and the wall. “I need to run to the school. I’ve got to start packing up my classroom. Want to come?”

“I’m wiped out. Think I’ll nap.”

Things still weren’t right between them.

“Sorry again I bailed on you. It was a really great party.” Nellie nudged her best friend with her shoulder. “Hey, are you around tonight? We can do face masks and watch Notting Hill. Order in Chinese. My treat . . .”

Sam still wore that look, but she accepted the unspoken truce. “Sure. Sounds fun.”


What was Richard’s ex like?

Slim and glamorous, Nellie thought as she approached the Learning Ladder. Maybe his ex enjoyed classical music and could identify the top notes in a bottle of wine. And Nellie bet his ex was confident about the pronunciation of charcuterie, unlike Nellie, who’d had to point at it on her menu once.

Nellie had brought her up soon after she met Richard, curious about the woman he’d shared his life with before her. They’d been trading sections of the Times on a lazy Sunday morning after they’d made love and showered together. Nellie had used the extra toothbrush Richard had bought for her, and she was wearing a T-shirt she’d left behind on an earlier visit. It had made her wonder why there weren’t any traces of Richard’s ex left in the apartment. They’d been together for years, yet no lone elastic hair band had been forgotten in the cabinet under the bathroom sink, or tin of herbal tea languished in the back of the pantry, or pretty throw cushion softened the severe lines of Richard’s suede couch.