On Our 6th Anniversary, My Husband Gave My Home to Her novel · Chapter 1 of 24
Chapter 1: Removed From the Building
Claire's key card is dead and his pregnant friend is on the resident list; Grady grants her a 24-hour visitor pass and she learns Summer's partner was turned away at the desk.
The night before our sixth anniversary, my key card stopped working at the door of my own building.
I stood at the front desk with my suitcase and my train ticket still in my hand.
I was seven weeks pregnant, and my husband didn't know.
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Lindell." The attendant slid the card back across the marble. "The system says you're not a resident."
"I live in 1806," I said. "I've lived there for six years."
He ran the card again.
The screen turned red.
ACCESS REMOVED. 19 DAYS AGO.
That was the week I sat beside my mother's hospital bed, waiting for her to wake up from surgery.
Grady had called that same night.
He asked how she was. He said he missed me. He said we'd do something special for our anniversary when I got home.
He had said all of that after he took my name off our door.
"Who made the change?" I asked.
"The primary resident, ma'am. Your husband."
He turned the monitor so I could see the list.
GRADY LINDELL, PRIMARY RESIDENT.
SUMMER EBERLE, AUTHORIZED RESIDENT.
My hand tightened on the edge of the counter.
Summer.
Grady's childhood friend. Five months pregnant. The woman who had ruined every birthday I ever had.
He had left my dinner party for her. He had cancelled our beach trip because she was "having a hard week."
Every time I complained, he gave me the same answer.
"She's practically my sister, Claire."
Now his sister had my apartment.
"Could you print that screen for me?" I said.
The attendant reached for the printer.
Behind me, the lobby doors slid open.
Grady came in a half step behind Summer, holding the door for her.
He was carrying two bags from a baby boutique. Summer held a clinic envelope against her round stomach.
He was smiling at her.
I hadn't seen that smile in four years. It was the one he used right after we started trying for a baby.
Then he saw me.
The smile dropped off his face.
"Claire." He looked at my suitcase first. "Why are you home? You said Sunday."
That was his first question.
He didn't ask about my mother. He didn't say he missed me.
"It's the night before our anniversary," I said.
He glanced at the calendar on the wall behind the desk.
He had forgotten.
I had paid a change fee on my ticket. I had hired a nurse to sit with my mother so I could walk in and surprise him.
I had surprised him, all right.
"Don't make a scene," Grady said. "I was going to tell you."
Summer moved in closer to him.
"Claire, please don't be mad. Tom threw me out, and I had nowhere to go. Grady only wanted to keep the baby safe."
She laid her palm over her stomach.
Grady reached for her other hand.
I watched their fingers lock together.
In my handbag was the first ultrasound picture of my baby.
I had looked at it the whole train ride. I had practiced how I would say it.
I had pictured his face.
We had tried for four years. I had gone through test after test with a specialist.
Grady never came in with me. He always waited in the car and read the paperwork at home.
Now he was holding another woman's hand.
Summer slid her hand free.
"I feel awful," she said softly. "I can ask them to put Claire back on. I never wanted to take her place."
She did not take out her phone.
She did not ask the attendant to change anything.
She said it because she knew Grady would stop her.
He did.
"No. The doctor said you can't be alone, and you need to get in and out without a hassle."
He turned to me.
"Claire can come in as a guest."
"A guest," I said.
"Enough." His voice went hard. "She's five months along. You're turning an emergency into a contest."
My fingers pressed against the ultrasound in my bag.
Our baby was seven weeks old.
I wondered if he would still call it a contest if he knew.
Summer looked down at the floor.
"Grady, please. I don't want to come between you two."
"You haven't done anything wrong," he told her.
Then he looked at me again.
"Stop embarrassing us in front of everyone. We'll talk about this upstairs."
He told the attendant to give me a temporary pass.
Then he walked Summer to the gate with his hand on her back.
She opened it with her phone.
He followed her through, carrying her bags.
My phone buzzed.
VISITOR PASS ACTIVE. EXPIRES IN 24 HOURS.
I stared at the countdown.
My husband's friend came and went whenever she liked.
His wife got a day pass.
I put my hand on my bag and felt the corner of the ultrasound.
Grady had just made his own child a visitor.
I was not going to leave.
So I picked up my suitcase and walked to the gate.
"Mrs. Lindell?" The attendant's voice was low. He glanced at the elevators to make sure they were gone. "I shouldn't say this."
"Say it."
"A man came by yesterday asking for Ms. Eberle. He said he was her partner, a Mr. Radley."
He swallowed.
"Mr. Lindell told us to send him away and never let him up."
Summer had told me Tom threw her out.
So why was Tom the one looking for her?
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