Chapter 2 - THE ENVELOPE HE LIED ABOUT.
Emily did not open Natalie’s envelope in the mall.
She picked up her shopping bags and walked away.
Ryan followed her to the parking garage, but she refused to get into his car.
“Emily, please.”
“You lied to me.”
“I was trying to fix it first.”
“That makes it worse.”
Ryan stood several feet away, careful not to block her path. For the first time since they married, Emily did not feel protected by his presence. She felt trapped inside information everyone seemed to have except her.
Natalie appeared near the elevator but did not approach.
Emily looked toward her.
“Is he sleeping with you?”
Natalie’s face changed from anger to disbelief.
“No.”
“Were you?”
“Years ago.”
Ryan closed his eyes.
Emily looked back at him.
“How many years?”
“Before I met you.”
“Then why are you secretly meeting her now?”
Natalie answered.
“Because legally, there may still be something between us that should have ended a long time ago.”
Emily gripped the handle of one shopping bag until the paper folded.
“What does that mean?”
Ryan finally spoke.
“Natalie and I were married.”
Emily stared.
“You told me she was an old girlfriend.”
“I should have told you everything.”
“Were married?”
Natalie’s expression became grim.
“That’s what we both believed.”
She handed Emily the envelope.
Inside was a certified court notice concerning an old dissolution case.
The final page contained one sentence Emily read twice.
The case had been dismissed years earlier without entry of a final judgment.
Emily looked at Ryan.
“You knew this two weeks ago?”
His silence answered.
She removed her wedding ring.
But instead of throwing it, she closed it inside her fist.
“I’m going somewhere else tonight.”
Then she asked Natalie one question.
“When did you find out?”
May you like
Natalie looked directly at Ryan.
“Before he did.”
