Pretty Little Wife(55)
Chapter Thirty-Six
TOBIAS WAS RIGHT. LILA DIDN’T FLINCH. GINNY REALIZED THAT as she watched Lila play with the glass in front of her. They’d put her in a room and left her alone, and she sat there, one leg crossed over the other, swinging back and forth in the air.
Ginny said they would wait for Tobias to arrive, but Lila said to go ahead and he could join them. An interesting choice, but Ginny didn’t question her luck.
Minutes ticked by, and Ginny waited on Pete’s report. She’d expected it an hour ago, and still nothing. But she needed Lila here. Out of the way, with or without Tobias.
When Ginny reentered the room, she took her sweet time sitting down and pretending to read through her file. She knew the contents by heart, but this wasn’t about preparation.
After a few seconds she glanced up to find Lila staring at her. “Is there anything you want to say to me?”
Lila lifted the glass. “The water tastes funny.”
Smooth as always. Not a hint of worry in her voice. No panic. Also, no sign of concern about her missing husband.
There was a game to play here, one that would make her life easier and dim the spotlight glaring on her, but Lila refused to join in. Her personality telegraphed a level of disconnectedness that Ginny hadn’t seen before. She’d handled sociopaths. Dealt with people with a host of issues, toxicity, and illness. Lila didn’t fit neatly into any box. She wore the emptiness inside her like a badge of honor.
Finding a road in proved almost impossible. Ginny had tried flipping the questions and throwing her off, and none of it worked.
She aimed for the one potential weakness in the shell Lila had created. “We’re conducting a search of Ryan’s house right now. I’m guessing something there will point to you and provide more than a hint of a relationship.”
Lila held the unblinking stare. “Okay.”
With anyone else, Ginny would view that answer one way. With Lila, Ginny had to ask. “Okay, what?”
Lila pushed the glass away from her. “Ryan and I have been sleeping together for months. We meet at out-of-the-way places, usually a few times a month.”
An admission. Within seconds, Lila shifted from her usual nondenial denials to spilling the truth. Ginny’s brain lagged behind the conversation then caught up in a whoosh. “You’re in a relationship.”
“We have sex.”
Of course she’d make that distinction. “I’m guessing you see those as two different things.”
Lila smiled. “They are.”
“It feels like we’re playing verbal gymnastics.” Again . . . still . . . for every second since they’d met. They continued the dance they’d done from day one.
Lila sighed and shifted in her chair as if settling in for a long talk. “When I first started out in criminal defense, I worked for a small firm. When you do that, you sometimes get stuck taking on cases outside of your area of expertise.”
Stalling. A new tactic, but still a tactic. “This has something to do with Ryan?”
“I ended up handling some divorce cases. Horrible work. People fighting over their kids like they’re curtains. It’s soul-sucking.”
Ginny played along. “I’ve heard.”
“One of the things I learned, mostly from another attorney in the office, but I found it to be true, is that people marry for different reasons. It sounds simple, but it’s subtle.”
“Explain it to me.”
“Some marry for money. A lot of times those of us looking from the outside see it and call the wife arm candy or some other derogatory term. But, reality is, many times it’s a mutual understanding between the parties.”
More disconnection from any emotion or empathy. “The couple.”
“They’re parties to a transaction. Whether people marry for stability or money, to escape or for children, it’s a deal made between the parties in that marriage. A deal only they know the terms to.”
The conversation circled and swooped. Ginny got sucked in, fascinated even though she fought it. “You’re using the word ‘transaction.’”
“Because marriage is exactly that.” Lila’s foot fell to the floor, and she leaned forward, balancing her elbows on the table between them. “Absent abuse or addiction, the transaction terms are violated when one of the parties wants a new or different deal. The trophy wife gets older and doesn’t want to sit and collect jewelry.”
“You mean when she doesn’t want to be a trophy anymore.” Made sense. It could also explain Lila’s ambivalence about her marriage from the start. She looked like a trophy wife, but nothing else about her fit the role.
“Exactly. She has a kid, gains a few pounds, and her priorities change. His don’t, and he wants out so he can find new arm candy.”
The back-and-forth cut off, and the reality of all she said caught up in Ginny’s head. “That’s not very romantic.”
“Romance as a necessary piece of the marriage contract is a relatively modern idea.”
They’d spun and talked and not gone anywhere. “You sound like a textbook. And I’m still not seeing what this has to do with Ryan.”
“Aaron and I married for security and comfort.”
Those were not the reasons Ginny would have picked. She wondered if Lila and Aaron had different reasons for marrying that maybe even Lila didn’t understand.