Beneath a Transparent Dream novel · Chapter 14 of 24
Chapter 14: The Cards
Eli came back with a wet cloth in his hand and stopped in the washroom doorway.
Matilda stood by the open drawer with the last card held out in front of her.
He looked at the card, and then at the box, and he did not ask what she had found.
"Term three," she said. "I'm going to ask you things, and you're going to answer."
"Yes."
"You wrote the last card so Zach would choose Cora."
"Yes."
"You knew he would."
"I knew he couldn't stand to be told no in front of a crowd, and I knew you'd be the only wife in the room." His voice was level. "I've known Zach since college."
"You wrote it on the twelfth of September."
"Yes."
"And you put me by the glass wall."
"I asked Cora to have you bake. She said you would. I put you where you could see the table."
Matilda put the card down on the drafting table, because her hand had started to shake.
"Forty people filmed me," she said.
"Yes."
"I stood there with sixty lemon bars and a glass of her wine, and you stood by the door and did not laugh."
"I couldn't laugh."
"You handed me my scarf."
"I wanted to be on the step before anyone else was."
"You were kind to me," Matilda said, "and the whole time you had done it."
He folded the cloth in half and set it on the plan chest.
"I'd read the papers in August," he said. "I had Cora's voice on a recording by the end of August. I could prove she was lying to me. I could not prove it to you."
"You didn't try."
"You'd have gone to Zach for his side. You always give people their side. You'd have gone to Cora, and she would have cried, and you would have baked her a cake."
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