Heart of the Matter - Emily Giffin [92]
“Okay. So what’s my takeaway supposed to be here?” I ask wryly. “That if Nick is having an affair, perhaps I’ll have a new best friend? A travel companion?”
Rachel uncrosses her arms and slides an olive off her toothpick, popping it into her mouth. She chews and swallows, then says, “Yeah, Dex. What, exactly, is your point?”
“I dunno,” he says, shrugging. “I just thought we were making confessions here. Tess reads Nick’s texts. And I ... I cheated on my fiancée with you . . .”
Rachel clears her throat and says, “His point, I think, is that even good guys can cheat. . . But it only happens if they’re in the wrong relationship—and only for the right person. And because you and Nick have a great relationship, you really have nothing to worry about.”
Dex nods and says, “It might sound like an excuse . . . a justification. But I think it happens to people. But not if they’re happy. Not if their relationship is where it should be.”
I nod, reaching into my purse for my phone, hoping to see Nick’s name in my in-box, feeling relief when I see that he called me twice in the past hour, then slight guilt for talking about him, albeit with family and my best friend.
“Did he call?” Cate asks.
“Yeah. Twice,” I say, almost smiling.
“See? He’s getting a bad rap. He’s home, babysitting the kids, calling you multiple times—” Cate says.
I interrupt her and say, “It’s not babysitting when it’s with your own children.” Then, just as I’m about to put my phone away, I notice an e-mail from April, the subject line marked urgent. Although I feel certain that it’s anything but urgent, and that it is simply one of her usual e-mails, covering one of our everyday topics—the kids, cooking, tennis, retail decisions, neighborhood gossip—I still click on it and read.
“Shit,” I hear myself say aloud, shaking my head as I reread her sentences: Call me ASAP. It’s about Nick.
“What?” Cate says.
Speechless, I hand her the phone, and she silently passes it along to Dex as Rachel reads it over his shoulder. They all fall silent, as I look away, my vision growing blurry and my head pounding, as if fast-forwarding directly to the hangover I’m sure to have tomorrow morning.
My husband is having an affair, I think, feeling sure of it now. Someone has seen Nick with a woman. Someone knows something. And the information has worked its way to April, who feels that she has no choice but to tell me. There is no other explanation. Yet a small part of me still clings to the slimmest, fragile hope as I watch Rachel flounder about, grasping at the same slight possibility.
“It could be anything,” she says, her voice soft, worried.
“Like . . . what?” I say.
She gives me a blank stare as Cate tries another reassuring angle. “April is an alarmist. She loves drama. You’ve said so yourself... It might be circumstantial evidence. Don’t jump to conclusions.”
“Just call her,” Dex says, his eyes flashing, his jaw falling into an angry line as I fleetingly consider who would win in a fight—my husband or brother. “Or call Nick. Call someone, Tess.”
“Now?” I say, my heart starting to race, the room spinning.
“Yeah,” he says. “Right now.”
“At the bar?” Rachel says anxiously. “It’s too loud in here.”
“Way too loud,” Cate agrees, shooting Dex an uneasy look. They commence a discussion of my strategy, who I should call first, and where I should go to have the conversation that could potentially change my life—the ladies’ room, another bar, the street, Cate’s apartment. I shake my head and slip my phone back into my bag.
“What’re you doing?” Dex says.
“I don’t want to know,” I say, completely aware of how foolish I sound.
“What do you mean?” he asks, incredulous.
“I mean . . . I don’t want to know . . . Not now. Not tonight,” I say again, surprising myself, right along with the three people who know and love me the most. Other than Nick. Maybe, apparently, including Nick.
30
Valerie
Valerie spends the rest of the afternoon with Charlie, doing her best to distract him with