I Was the Genius Couple's Forgotten Bride novel · Chapter 2 of 24

Chapter 2: Spare Keys

Nessa goes home in her gown and packs; Calvin and Lydia arrive and treat her exit as a scheduling problem; she leaves the ring on the counter and takes both sets of keys; Keith texts her a video of Calvin telling the guests, 'She'll be back by the weekend. I'd stake the lab on it.'

My mother unzipped the dress for me in the kitchen of the apartment I paid for.

"Sit, Ness," Bea said. "I'll pack."

"No. I know what's mine."

I put on jeans and an old sweatshirt, and I went through the rooms with a roll of tape and a stack of sticky notes.

Anything with my receipt on it got a note.

My knives. The cast iron pan. The good kettle. My grandmother's quilt from the end of the bed.

It took twenty minutes, because it turned out most of the apartment was mine.

Bea carried the boxes down to her car and did not say one word about Calvin.

That was how I knew she was furious.

I was on my knees in the hall closet when I heard his key in the door.

Then I heard Lydia's.

They came in still dressed for the wedding, Calvin with his tie pulled loose and Lydia carrying her heels in one hand.

"There she is," Calvin said, relieved.

He took in the boxes and the tape, and his forehead creased in thought.

"Okay. You're upset about the delay."

I stood up. "I'm upset about the delay."

"It was forty minutes, Dee. And the data was real, we hadn't seen a curve like that before." He held out his hand. It held the ring. "You left this on the lectern."

"I know where I left it."

"We can do Saturday. I already called the venue, they have a cancellation. I'll block out the whole afternoon and I'll put my phone in the car."

Lydia filled my kettle at the sink and set it on the stove.

She had slept on our couch most weeks for four years, and she knew where everything was.

"Nobody's angry with you," she said. "I think we all just got ahead of ourselves. Let me make you tea."

"That's my kettle."

"I know, sweetheart. It's a good kettle."

Calvin set his little black recorder on the counter next to the ring.

The red light was on.

I picked it up and pressed the stop button. "Not in my kitchen."

"It's a habit," he said. "I like to have an accurate record of what people say while they're upset."

"Why?"

"So I can be fair to it later."

My mother had come back up for the last box. She stood in the doorway with her car keys in her hand and watched him.

"Calvin," she said. "Your tie's crooked."

He looked down and fixed it, because he had done what Bea told him since he was ten.

I held out my palm. "Keys."

"What?"

"The spare key. And Lydia's."

Calvin laughed uncertainly. "Dee. It's our apartment."

"The lease has one name on it. Keys, please."

He looked at Lydia.

Lydia looked at me for a long moment, and I watched her decide that this was the moment to be agreeable.

"Of course," she said. "Whatever you need."

She unhooked a key from her ring and put it in my hand. It was warm.

After a second, Calvin did the same.

"Where will you even sleep?" he said.

"At my mother's."

"For how long?"

"I'll let you know."

"Dee, you can't just leave. You work with me. You work with us."

"I work the front desk," I said. "I can be replaced by a sign that says Please Wait."

Lydia made a small sound, almost a laugh, and put her hand over her mouth.

Then she took the gray notebook out of her bag and wrote down what I'd said.

I watched her do it.

Calvin touched my arm, as gently as he touched anything.

"Monday, eight-thirty, your desk," he said. "We'll talk once you've slept. I really do think you'll feel different."

"I'll be there," I said.

He heard what he wanted to hear.

I picked up the last box, and I left the ring on the counter next to the recorder.

Bea held the door.

On the stairs my phone buzzed.

It was a number I had not saved.

Keith Sallow, the new head of the second lab, who took his coffee black, and whom I had been the only one to welcome with a mug.

I'm sorry to send this. A guest filmed it after you left. I thought you should see it from someone who isn't laughing. Delete it if you want.

There was a video.

I sat down on the stair, and my mother sat down next to me.

The screen showed the front of the hall.

Calvin stood at the microphone in his wedding suit, with Lydia at his elbow.

"Thank you all for your patience," Calvin said. "For the record, she'll be back by the weekend. I'd stake the lab on it."

Somebody in the audience groaned.

Lydia nodded beside him.

Nobody was clapping.

Then the video ended, and my mother took the phone out of my hand and held it face down on her knee.

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