As for my husband? He looked like he’d just swallowed glass.
“I dreamed about that skirt,” I said gently. “I thought that my husband had paid enough attention to me when I told him that I’d like it… It appeared briefly, in a beautiful box. And then disappeared. Like magic. But… imagine the truth, Christopher. Here it is… on your assistant.”
Silence.
“I… I gifted it to Pen,” Chris said, clearing his throat. “As a reward. For her performance at work. She’s been doing a wonderful job.”
“How generous you are,” I said, tilting my head. “And what part of her performance are we celebrating? Should we drink to her performance in the boardroom or… the part where she stops by during lunch breaks to work on projects in our bedroom? Come on, there’s champagne!”
Penelope paled. Nathaniel gasped and blinked slowly as if trying to rewind the time. Chris stepped forward with wide eyes, but I held up a hand.
“There’s no point denying it,” I said. “I have a witness.”
We didn’t realize that the room had fallen silent during our conversation. The music faded into the background like it knew it wasn’t welcome anymore.
“Prue,” Chris started. “Maybe we should…”
“Shush,” I said, cutting him off.
I turned to Nathaniel.
“You know, we’ve had dinner together. You’ve been in my home, we’ve been in yours… But I never once suspected anything. Isn’t that wild? Did you suspect anything between them? Who knew that betrayal could sit next to you at a table and ask for salt?”
“It wasn’t like that, Prue! I swear… We didn’t…” Penelope stammered.
“Honey, you did,” I cut in. “Maybe once, maybe more, maybe a hundred times. I don’t care. You brought this into my house. You are literally wearing my gift right now. And the two of you made my son your witness.”
“Don’t drag Luke into this.”
“Luke’s already in it, Christopher,” I snapped. “Who do you is the witness?”
I looked at Nathaniel. His eyes flicked to Penelope, then to me. He didn’t speak but his hand dropped from her waist and he took a step to the side.
The air in the room had changed. Guests started to shift, some were even heading out. Someone tried to put the music back on, but ended up connecting to my “Dracula” audiobook instead.
The party ended.
I didn’t bother crying that night. I had already done that after Luke had confessed.
I had collapsed onto the floor of my pantry and cried. I had gripped the steering wheel tightly and cried in a parking lot after grocery shopping.
Chris tried to talk to me after everyone left and Luke had taken himself to his Xbox.
“I didn’t mean to hurt you, Prue,” he said.
I was cutting the cake into thick slices for the neighbors.
“I don’t know if I believe that,” I said. “But you hurt me nonetheless. And you broke our son’s heart.”
“I made a mistake.”
“You made a choice, Christopher.”
“I don’t love her,” he looked away.
“Then why give her something meant for me? Something I loved the moment I set my eyes on it.”
He didn’t answer.
“I’d like a divorce, Chris,” I said.
“Prue, wait!” his head snapped up.
“No,” I said. “It’s what I really want.”
The papers were signed quietly. There was no big dramatic scene or any shouting. Christopher moved into a one-bedroom apartment near his office. I heard that Penelope moved back in with her parents.
“She looks miserable, Prue,” Janice, one of Christopher’s colleagues told me when I ran into her at the grocery store. “Apparently, Nathaniel kicked her out that night. I heard her telling Chris about it at the office.”
Luke asked if I was okay.
I told him yes, a hundred times over, until he seemed to believed me.
The truth is, I am.
I started waking up early again, not out of anxiety or an alarm clock, but to walk the dog as the sun came up. I taught myself how to make honey tulles from scratch. I said yes to dinners with friends I hadn’t seen in years.
And I stopped setting an extra place at the table. I still take Luke to his father’s house whenever he wants but even that seems to be a rare occasion.
Oh, and I bought myself that skirt. In every color that the store carried.
Because if anyone’s going to spoil me now, it’s me.
