Chapter 12: Terms

I waited for him in the study with the green lamp on.

At ten past six I heard the front door, and his steps in the hall, and a pause outside the study door.

He came in with his coat over his arm.

He saw my face and put the coat down on the chair without a word.

"Lydia came to the clinic," I said.

"I figured she might."

"She told me what she heard in your car."

He stood very still.

"In October," I said. "You called the registry and asked for me by name."

"Yes."

He didn't say anything else.

He didn't make it smaller.

I had spent the afternoon hoping he would say it was a coincidence.

I could not stand how much I still wanted him to.

"In room four you told me you didn't choose this," I said.

"That was a lie."

"I know it was."

"I'm sorry for it."

"I didn't ask if you were sorry."

My voice shook, and I held on to the edge of his desk.

"I asked you at the sink what Spencer meant. You said he was making me doubt you. You told me that was all."

"You were."

"You knew."

"Yes."

"How long?"

He took a breath.

"The Hallam health plan covers spouses," he said.

"Spencer enrolled a wife in January. Her name was Willa Prentiss."

"In September the registry flagged it, because it couldn't verify the marriage. HR sent the flag to my office."

"September."

"I sent it back and asked them to wait. I wanted to make sure before I said anything."

"And then Lydia showed you the application."

"A month later. I read his name next to hers and I knew what he was."

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