Chapter 6: What He Said When There Was No One Left to Perform For
He sat down where Renee had been.
Not close.
The space between us felt deliberate on both sides.
For a moment he just looked at his daughter.
The way she was curled against me, one small fist pressed under her chin.
"I didn't plan it," he said.
"I know that's what you believe," I said.
He looked up.
"What does that mean?"
"It means people who do what you did always say they didn't plan it.
And they're usually telling the truth about that part.
The planning came later.
The second account.
The house.
The fourteen months of phone records." I kept my voice even.
"That part was very planned."
He was quiet.
"How long were you going to let it go on?" I asked.
"I was going to end it."
"When?"
He didn't answer.
"After the wedding?" I said.
"After the holidays?
After Lily started school?
There's always a reason to wait one more season, Daniel.
I want to know which season you had picked."
"It's not that simple."
"It is, actually.
You either end it or you don't." I looked at him.
"You didn't."
He pressed his hands together, elbows on his knees.
The posture of a man trying to look smaller than he felt.
"I love you," he said.
"I know you think that's true."
"It is true."
"Then what is Lauren?"
He flinched at the name.
He hadn't expected me to have it.
"Renee," he said, under his breath.
"Don't blame your sister.
She protected you for eight months.
That's eight months longer than you deserved." I shifted Lily slightly.
"What is Lauren to you?"
He was silent for a long time.
Long enough that a couple walked past on the path nearby, laughing at something, unaware of us in the shadows under the lights.
"I don't know how to explain it," he finally said.
"Try."
"It was — she was separate.
From everything.
From the pressure and the family and the—" He stopped.
"From me," I said.
"That's not what I meant."
"That's what you described." I kept my voice level.
"I was the pressure.
She was the escape."
He didn't deny it.
"And the house?" I said.
"She needed somewhere stable.
Her lease was ending and I—" He stopped again.
"I know how it sounds."
"You bought a woman a house," I said.
"While your daughter was learning to walk.
While I was going back to work three months after giving birth because you said we needed the income." I paused.
"Was the second account why we needed the income?"
His silence was the answer.
My hands tightened on the folder.
I made them relax.
"Here is what's going to happen," I said.
"I have an appointment with my lawyer on Monday morning.
Diane has already prepared a summary of the financial documentation.
The second account, the transfers, the property purchase — all of it is in there." I held up the folder.
"This is your copy.
I have mine."
He stared at it.
"I'm not going to fight you in public," I said.
"I'm not going to call Lauren.
I'm not going to make this uglier than it already is.
But I am going to protect myself and I am going to protect Lily.
And if you make that difficult, I will use everything in that folder."
He took the folder slowly.
"Olivia—"
"I need you to hear me clearly," I said.
"Not as your wife.
Not as someone who is angry.
As someone who has already made her decision." I looked at him.
"I'm done."
He looked at Lily again.
"I don't want to lose her," he said.
His voice cracked on the last word.
"Then be her father," I said.
"That's still available to you.
But being my husband isn't."
He sat with that.
The flickering light in the oak tree above us finally went out.
"What do I tell my mother?" he said.
And somehow, that was the sentence that told me everything I needed to know about why we had ended up here.
"Tell her whatever you want," I said.
"I don't live in her house anymore."
May you like
I stood up carefully, Lily still against my shoulder, and walked back toward the venue to get our coats.
He didn't follow.
