One Affair, One Divorce, No Way Back novel · Chapter 3 of 24

Chapter 3: On Speaker

Kendra tells Miles Leigh is bluffing, he calls Leigh on speaker, and Leigh asks Kendra if Ellis is still in Denver, a name Miles never knew.

I reached the office forty minutes late and missed the first half of the morning meeting.

When it ended, Kendra was already waiting in my office.

She had set breakfast out on the coffee table, two containers and a pair of chopsticks still in their paper.

"You didn't answer my messages," she said.

"Leigh wants a divorce."

Kendra's hands stopped on the chopsticks.

A moment later she put them down.

"She found out?" she asked.

"Did someone at the firm say something? Did someone tell her about us?"

"She says she's always known."

"She says there's someone she likes."

The office went quiet.

I had no idea what Kendra was thinking.

I was busy wondering when Leigh had found out.

Maybe it was on one of the business trips Kendra and I had taken together.

Maybe Kendra had left something in my car.

Kendra laughed, short and dry.

"And you believe her?"

I had been asking myself the same thing.

All the way to work I had replayed how Leigh looked when she said it.

She hadn't looked like she was trying to hurt me.

But if she wasn't, why didn't she want the house?

It was worth close to two million dollars, and Leigh waited for sales before she bought a pair of shoes.

I opened the photo I had taken of the agreement and reread the section on dividing our property.

Kendra came around the desk and looked over my shoulder.

"That makes it even less believable," she said.

"When a woman says she doesn't want money, she's waiting for you to offer more."

She sounded sure of herself.

I had always liked that about her.

Leigh thought a decision through from every side, while Kendra could reach a conclusion in a second.

After eleven years of the first, the second felt like fresh air.

"Call her," Kendra said.

"Put her on speaker. Make her say it again, in front of someone, and see if she still means it."

I called Leigh.

She answered on the second ring.

"Miles."

"I've got Kendra here with me," I said.

I waited for the silence.

I waited for her to hang up, or cry, or finally raise her voice.

None of it came.

"Hello, Kendra," Leigh said.

"Good morning."

Kendra's mouth opened, and nothing came out.

"I'm glad you're there," Leigh went on.

"It saves me a call. Miles, I'm not angry at either of you, and I'm not bargaining."

"The papers say what I want them to say."

"If you want to change something, you can tell my lawyer."

"You have a lawyer?" I said.

"Since August."

Kendra leaned toward the phone.

"Leigh, we should talk like adults..."

"I'd like that, Kendra."

"But I'll save it for when I have everyone in one room."

Her voice stayed warm and even.

"Is Ellis still in Denver?"

Kendra went white.

I watched it happen, the color leaving her face in one slow drop.

She reached over and ended the call herself.

The phone lit up and went dark in my hand.

For a moment neither of us said anything.

"Who is Ellis?" I asked.

"My husband," Kendra said.

She was staring at the dead screen.

"He is in Denver. He's been there since Sunday."

"I have never said his name to her."

I tried to answer, and I couldn't.

Three years, and I had never heard his name either.

Every time I asked about him, Kendra called him a man who traveled and changed the subject.

I had thought it was a kindness.

I had liked not knowing.

"How does your wife know my husband's name?" Kendra said.

I had no answer to that.

I thought of the phone on our kitchen counter, lit up with a single letter.

I thought of Leigh leaving it alone.

It didn't mean anything, I told myself.

Kendra's hands were shaking as she gathered her things.

"Find out what she knows," she said.

"Today, Miles. Before I go home."

She picked up her bag and walked out without taking her breakfast.

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