It takes me 3 days to find Nathan. Vanessa’s husband is easy to track down because she tags him and everything. He works in construction management, played college football, looks like the kind of guy who’d have no idea his wife was capable of cheating.
I find his work email through his company website, and I sit there for an hour staring at a blank message trying to figure out what to say. Do I just tell him, send him the screenshots, blow up his life the way mine is being blown up?
But then I think about Derek at that recital, smiling while Vanessa hugged her daughter. I think about him lying to me every single day. I think about him touching me with the same hands he’s been using to touch her.
And I hit send.
“Mr. Bradley, you don’t know me, but I think we need to talk.”
“It’s about Vanessa and my husband Derek.”
“I have proof of what’s been going on.”
“I know this is a lot to take in, but I think you deserve to know the truth.”
Amber, I include my phone number.
Then I close my laptop and I go pick up Madison from school and I make her favorite dinner and I help her with her homework and I pretend everything is fine.
Dererick comes home late again.
“Work thing,” he says.
I just nod.
My phone buzzes at 10 p.m. Unknown number.
“Is this Amber? This is Nathan Bradley. Can we meet?”
We meet at a park halfway between our houses the next day. I told Derek I had a dentist appointment. Nathan told Vanessa he had a sight inspection.
I spot him sitting on a bench near the playground. He’s bigger than he looks in photos. Broader. the kind of guy who looks like he could break someone in half, but is currently sitting with his shoulders slumped forward like he’s been punched in the gut.
“Nathan?”
I approach carefully.
He looks up. His eyes are red.
“Yeah, Amber.”
I nod and sit down next to him, keeping some distance.
“I didn’t believe it at first,” he says without preamble. “I thought maybe you were some crazy person or you got the wrong Vanessa or something.”
“But then I checked her phone last night while she was sleeping.”
His voice cracks on the last word.
“I’m sorry,” I say.
And I mean it.
“How long have you known?” He asks.
“I suspected for months, but I only confirmed it a few days ago.”
“at our daughter’s dance recital.”
He lets out a bitter laugh.
“That’s where they met, you know, the gym inside the dance academy.”
“Vanessa always goes while Lily’s in class.”
“I guess your husband does, too, apparently.”
We sit in silence for a minute.
“What do you want to do?” He finally asks.
Honestly, I don’t know. I’ve been so focused on finding out the truth that I haven’t thought about what comes after.
“Have you confronted him?”
“Not yet.”
“Have you confronted her?”
“No.”
He runs his hands through his hair.
“Part of me wants to pretend I never found out.”
“Just go back to yesterday when I didn’t know.”
I understand that feeling. I really do.
“But I can’t,” he continues. “I can’t look at her knowing she’s been lying to me. To Lily, playing happy family while she’s—”
He trails off.
I know.
Another silence.
Then Nathan says something that changes everything.
“You know what kills me? Our anniversary is next week.”
“10 years.”
“I was planning this whole thing. Dinner at the place where we had our first date.”
“I even bought her a diamond necklace.”
Something clicks in my brain.
“My anniversary is in 2 weeks,” I say slowly.
“15 years.”
“Dererick already made reservations at this fancy restaurant downtown.”
“He does it every year. Very public, very showy.”
“He likes people to think we’re the perfect couple.”
Nathan looks at me.
I look at him.
We’re both thinking the same thing.
“What if?” Nathan says carefully.
“We give them the anniversary they deserve.”
