Chapter 14: Statement of Intent

Phillip told it to the tablecloth.

"There was never a Linnea Frost," he said. "I made her up."

My mother-in-law kept her pen above the page and did not write.

"I made her up on our wedding night," Phillip said, "at the foot of the bed, in less than a minute."

"Why?" I said.

"The prenup meeting. A month before."

I remembered the room.

It had a long table, four lawyers and a tray of sparkling water nobody touched.

"They asked if either party had a statement of intent," Phillip said.

"You said you were in this for the merger and the sex."

"And that you'd been told the sex was optional," he said.

"That was a joke."

"The lawyers laughed."

"I was scared, Phillip. I had my hands under the table, holding my own knees."

"I know that now."

He finally looked up, and his face had nothing left on it.

"I'd loved you since the engagement dinner," he said.

"Then I heard you say you came for the sex and the merger."

"So I decided you would never find out what I came for."

"So you invented a woman."

"I invented a woman I loved, so you couldn't see how much I wanted you. It was the only pride I had left."

I looked at the man I had been married to for three years.

"And it went on for three years," I said.

"You were so cheerful about it. I kept waiting for you to be angry, and you gave me a calendar slot."

"Pending."

"And Linnea?"

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