Chapter 3 - THE NOTEBOOK WITH MY HUSBAND’S NAME
Kayla had written my husband’s name in a notebook three years before she moved into our house wearing towels.
That fact changed everything.
“Where is it?” I asked.
Evan sighed.
“I don’t know anymore.”
Kayla folded her arms.
“This is ridiculous.”
I stared at her.
“Was Andrew’s name in a notebook?”
She looked toward the house instead of at me.
“That wasn’t what Evan is making it sound like.”
“What was it?”
“Observations.”
Andrew had joined us outside.
“Observations about me?”
Kayla’s jaw tightened.
“I was worried about Amanda.”
“Three years ago?” I asked.
“You were newly married.”
“So?”
“So people act perfect in the beginning.”
Andrew looked genuinely stunned.
“You were studying me?”
“Oh, please. Studying is dramatic.”
Evan was still on speaker.
“No, it isn’t,” he said.
Kayla spun toward the phone.
“You don’t get to talk.”
“I spent six years covering for you.”
“I never asked you to.”
“You absolutely did.”
I raised a hand.
“Stop.”
They did.
I turned to Kayla.
“What did you write about Andrew?”
She said nothing.
Evan answered.
“Where he worked. What gym he used. Who he had lunch with.”
My heart began pounding.
Andrew’s expression went cold.
“You followed me?”
Kayla scoffed.
“I happened to see you places.”
“More than once?”
Silence.
Andrew looked at me.
Then back at her.
“Six months ago, you were outside my office.”
Kayla blinked.
“I was never outside your office.”
“Yes, you were.”
His voice remained calm.
“I saw your car across the street.”
I looked between them.
“You never told me that.”
“I thought I was mistaken.”
Kayla laughed nervously.
“You were.”
Andrew shook his head.
“No. I wasn’t.”
Then he looked at me.
“That wasn’t the only time.”
My stomach dropped again.
“Andrew?”
“Two months ago, she came into the coffee shop near my office.”
Kayla interrupted.
“So?”
“You live forty minutes away.”
“People drive.”
“You told me you were meeting a recruiter.”
“I was.”
Andrew stared at her.
“I asked around afterward.”
Kayla’s face tightened.
“You did what?”
“There was no recruiter.”
For the first time, she had no answer.
I turned to Evan.
“Did you know she was following Andrew?”
“I knew she was checking on someone.”
Kayla suddenly shouted:
“Because I saw him with another woman!”
Silence.
Andrew frowned.
“What woman?”
“The brunette.”
“What brunette?”
“At the restaurant near your office.”
Kayla looked at me triumphantly, as though she had finally produced the evidence that justified everything.
“He was sitting alone with her.”
I looked at Andrew.
He blinked.
Then his entire expression changed.
Not guilt.
Recognition.
“Oh.”
Kayla smiled.
“Exactly.”
Andrew turned to me.
“Amanda, that was Claire.”
I knew the name.
Claire Morrison.
Andrew’s attorney.
She had handled the sale of his late father’s property.
Kayla’s smile faltered.
Andrew continued.
“And we weren’t discussing an affair.”
He looked at Kayla.
“We were changing my will.”
My breath caught.
“Your will?”
Andrew nodded.
Then he looked at me.
“There’s something I was planning to tell you next month.”
Kayla glanced between us.
“What?”
Andrew’s eyes stayed on mine.
“My father’s estate finally settled.”
I knew there had been disputes.
I didn’t know details.
Andrew took my hand.
“And the amount I inherited was a lot more than either of us expected.”
Kayla’s face went strangely blank.
May you like
That was when I realized something else.
She already knew.
