I Stopped Fighting For My Husband and He Panicked novel · Chapter 3 of 24

Chapter 3: Break Room

Monique, crying, says Cory swore the marriage was over; Cassia tells her where the money went, Cory panics in front of the floor, and Monique's brother is waiting at the elevator.

I went to work on Monday because the rent was due.

My paycheck was now the only money I could count on.

The whole twelfth floor knew about the ring.

Somebody had told the story in the company chat on Sunday.

By nine o'clock people were being very kind to me in very quiet voices.

Kat walked me to my desk with her arm through mine.

"If anyone says 'how are you holding up,'" she said, "I'm going to answer for you."

"What would you say?"

"Fantastic, thanks, and how's your sad little life."

I opened my first claim and typed for an hour.

For the first time in a year I did not check where Cory was.

At ten-thirty I went to the break room for tea.

Monique was standing at the window with her back to me.

She turned when she heard the door, and her eyes were swollen.

"Cassia," she said. "Please. Five minutes."

I nearly walked out.

Then I remembered that she had brought me coffee every Monday for a year, with the right milk.

I let the door close behind me.

"I'm so sorry about Friday," she said. "About the shot."

"I didn't want to do it," she said. "Then everyone was chanting, and Cory said it would look strange if we didn't."

"I yelled 'Kiss.' I'm the one who made it worse."

"That's what I can't stop thinking about." She pressed a tissue under one eye.

"He told me you'd checked out," she said. "He said you two had agreed to separate lives."

"He said you were only staying together for the house."

"What house?"

"The one you were saving for." She said it slowly, watching my face.

"He said it was a few more months, and then you'd both sign papers," she said. "He said you didn't even care."

I set my cup down very carefully.

"Monique, do you have a loft in Bluebird Lofts?"

Her face went still.

"How do you know that?"

"Unit 4C. A twelve-month lease that started in April."

"It's in my name and his. He said his uncle left him money." She stopped. "Cassia, why are you asking me that?"

"Because the deposit came from my grandmother."

I watched it reach her.

Her hand went to her mouth, and the tissue fell on the floor.

"Sixty-two thousand dollars," I said. "Out of eighty-four. That was her house money, and then it was mine."

"He said," Monique whispered. "He said it was his."

The break room door banged open.

Cory stood in it with his tie crooked and his phone in his hand.

Behind him, through the glass wall, half the floor pretended not to look.

"Monique," he said. "Don't."

Nobody spoke.

"Don't say anything to her. Cassia, she's upset, she doesn't know what she's saying."

"She said you told her I didn't care," I said.

"I never said that. Monique, tell her I never said that."

Monique turned her face away.

He saw it, and his voice cracked.

"Cassia, please. We should do this at home. People are watching."

"I know," I said. "You always used to say that when I raised my voice."

"I didn't mean..."

"I'm not raising it."

I picked up my tea and walked around him, and the whole floor stepped back to let me through.

Kat met me at my desk with her arms full of my things.

"I packed your bag and your cactus," she said. "I figured you'd want to leave for lunch early."

"I'm not leaving. I have eleven claims."

"You're the most terrifying woman I've ever met," Kat said, delighted.

I took the elevator down to the lobby at lunchtime because I wanted to sit outside and breathe.

A man was holding the door of the next car.

He was tall, with a short beard and a flannel shirt under a work jacket.

There was a fine layer of sawdust on his sleeves.

He didn't look like anyone who worked in the building.

"Ms. Whitaker?" he said.

I stopped.

"I'm Wyatt Mercer. Monique's brother."

My jaw tightened, and he lifted both hands.

"I'm not here to ask you to go easy on her," he said.

"I'm here because you should see something about your husband before he gets to you first."

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