Chapter 4 - BRETT EXPECTED HER TO CRY
Brett came home Sunday afternoon.
No Sierra.
Flowers.
Of course.
Audrey was making soup.
Micah upstairs.
Brett placed the flowers on the counter.
“I’m sorry.”
She chopped celery.
“For?”
His face tightened.
“The gala.”
“Specificity helps.”
“The brooch.”
Chop.
“Sierra.”
Chop.
“The affair.”
Audrey stopped.
Finally.
He took that as progress.
Mistake.
“How long?”
“Six months.”
“Was the gala the first public event?”
“Yes.”
“Why bring her?”
Brett exhaled.
“We were going to stop hiding.”
Audrey stared.
“We.”
“Yes.”
“So you planned to humiliate me publicly before discussing divorce privately.”
“That isn’t fair.”
She almost laughed.
“Fair.”
He rubbed his forehead.
“I didn’t know she was going to wear the brooch.”
“You gave it to her.”
“I gave her a jewelry box with several things.”
Audrey’s knife stopped.
“Several things?”
Brett froze.
Interesting.
“What else belonged to me?”
“Nothing important.”
There are sentences marriages should not survive.
That was one.
Audrey put the knife down.
“Nothing important to whom?”
“Audrey.”
“To whom?”
He sighed.
“A pair of earrings. A bracelet.”
She stared.
Her things.
Given to his mistress.
As if Audrey’s belongings were inventory he controlled.
Something inside her cooled permanently.
---
Then Brett tried the script he had probably rehearsed.
“We’ve been unhappy for years.”
“Have we?”
“You know we have.”
“I knew we were tired.”
“Audrey.”
“I knew you stopped coming home for dinner.”
“You stopped wanting to travel.”
“I was running operations for seven restaurants.”
“You became married to the company.”
She laughed.
“The company you now call yours?”
His face changed.
Too fast.
There it was.
Audrey looked at him.
“I haven’t mentioned the company.”
Silence.
Brett recovered.
“We were talking about work.”
“No.”
She studied him.
“You thought I knew something.”
He looked away.
Audrey smiled.
Small.
Cold.
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“Confirming it.”
May you like
His face went pale.
---
