Chapter 1: The Dinner I Was Never Meant to Understand
My husband invited his boss to dinner without asking me — halfway through the meal, his boss turned to me and said, “So you don’t know yet?”
My husband, Nathan, messaged me at four in the afternoon.
“My boss and a few people from work are coming over for dinner tonight.
Hope that’s okay.”
It wasn’t really a question.
By seven, I had dinner prepared and had even put on my best violet dress for the occasion.
Nathan’s boss, Mr.
Bennett, showed up with three of Nathan’s coworkers.
One of them was Susan Parker.
I knew Susan.
Tall, blonde, beautiful, and always lingering a little too close to my husband at company events.
Nathan looked unusually nervous.
He kept glancing at his phone and barely touched his food.
Halfway through dinner, Mr.
Bennett lifted his glass.
“Well, we should probably celebrate.”
“Celebrate what?”
His smile vanished.
He glanced at Nathan.
“So you don’t know yet?”
Nathan immediately put down his fork.
“Not tonight.”
My stomach tightened.
“Know what?”
“I assumed you’d already discussed it,” Mr.
Bennett said.
Nathan sighed.
“I was going to tell you.”
Mr.
Bennett cleared his throat.
“Nathan’s going to Seattle for a few months.”
I stared at my husband.
“You’re what?”
“It’s temporary.
Three months.
Maybe four.”
“How long have you known?” I asked.
Nathan didn’t answer.
“We finalized the assignment almost three weeks ago,” Mr.
Bennett said.
Three weeks.
My husband had known for three weeks that he was leaving for months and hadn’t said a word.
“Anything else I should know?”
Mr.
Bennett paused.
Then Susan spoke.
“I’m going too.”
I looked at her.
Nathan immediately shook his head.
“Don’t make this into something it isn’t.
Susan was assigned to the project.
I didn’t choose her.”
I turned toward Mr.
Bennett.
“Did Nathan know Susan was going when he accepted?”
Nathan’s expression changed.
That was my answer.
“Yes,” Mr.
Bennett said quietly.
“I thought you two had already discussed all of this.”
I wanted to explode.
Instead, I smiled.
“Anyone want dessert?”
For the rest of the evening, I watched Nathan and Susan.
Nothing happened that I could actually accuse them of.
But there were subtle things.
Susan knew what Nathan was drinking before he asked.
When he barely touched his dessert, she laughed.
“Don’t worry, Natalie.
I’ll make sure he actually eats in Seattle.
Nathan forgets when he’s stressed.”
“He does?”
“All the time.”
Nathan abruptly changed the subject.
Later, while everyone was preparing to leave, I heard Susan say to him, “At least the apartment situation is finally sorted.”
“What apartment situation?” I asked.
Susan looked at Nathan.
“Company housing,” she said quickly.
“Oh, right,” Susan added.
“We’re in the same building.
It’ll make the early mornings easier.”
Another thing Susan knew.
Another thing my husband hadn’t told me.
I waited until the final guest walked out and closed the door behind them.
Then I turned to Nathan.
“Three weeks?”
“Natalie—”
“You knew for three weeks that you were leaving.
You knew Susan was going with you.
She’s apparently going to live in the same building as you, and somehow she knows your habits better than I do.”
“Nothing is happening between me and Susan.”
“Then why does she know more about your life than your wife does?”
“Because I knew you’d react exactly like this.”
I laughed.
“Like what?
Like a wife who just found out her husband is moving to another city with a beautiful woman from work?”
“I’m not moving in with Susan.”
“Oh, good.
She’s just going to be living down the hall.”
Nathan opened his mouth to answer.
His phone lit up on the table.
Susan Parker.
I looked at him.
“Perfect timing.”
“Natalie, don’t—”
But the message preview was already glowing on the screen.
I read the first line.
I looked up at Nathan.
“What?!
Why didn’t you tell me this too?!”
What did Susan’s message reveal—and how will Nathan explain it?
Comment “NEXT” for Part 2.
