That did not make her presence in my house harmless.
She had spent time with my husband and accepted his family’s welcome while I remained his wife.
But suddenly the shape of the deception widened.
Alex had not merely hidden Lauren from me.
He had apparently hidden me from Lauren in a different way.
My phone rang again.
Lauren.
I stared at the unfamiliar number.
Chloe said, “You don’t owe her anything.”
“I know.”
I answered anyway.
“Is this Alex’s wife?” Lauren asked.
Her voice sounded smaller than I expected.
“Yes.”
“He told me you were separated.”
“So I’ve heard.”
“He said the house was his family’s place.”
I looked around Chloe’s living room because I suddenly needed to see something ordinary.
A lamp.
A blanket.
A coffee cup.
Anything that wasn’t part of Alex’s manufactured reality.
“The lake house belonged to my grandmother,” I said.
“She left it to me.
Alex has no ownership interest in it.”
Lauren was silent.
Then she said, “He told me you didn’t come because you didn’t want to be around his family anymore.”
I laughed once, without humor.
“He told me nobody was coming.”
Another long silence.
In the security feed, Lauren turned away from Alex.
“He said you knew about us.”
“Until Megan posted that picture, I didn’t know you existed.”
Lauren closed her eyes.
Alex walked toward her.
She held up one hand to stop him.
For the first time that afternoon, he looked frightened.
Not angry.
Frightened.
“What did he tell you about New Year’s?” I asked.
“That this was the first holiday after your separation where the family was going to stop pretending.”
I felt something inside me become very still.
I thought of Alex standing in our kitchen, telling me helping people was my calling.
He had used the thing I was proudest of about myself as a tool to remove me from my own house.
“Lauren,” I said, “whatever happens between you and Alex is your decision.
But you should know he slept beside me the night after that first gathering and promised me we would take a romantic trip together.”
She did not answer immediately.
Then she whispered, “I have to go.”
On the screen, she lowered her phone and walked straight to the car she had arrived in.
Alex followed.
She turned and said something sharp enough that even his father looked over.
Then she got inside and shut the door.
Alex knocked on the window.
She backed out of the driveway.
The champagne bottle was still sitting upright in the snow near the porch.
Chloe leaned back against the couch.
