I shoved the papers back into the drawer so fast I nearly ripped the envelope.
Then I just stood there in the middle of his office hearing his truck outside, trying to act normal while my entire body felt numb.
Forty-five thousand dollars.
Five months ago we sat at the kitchen table for three straight nights trying to figure out how to help our son with tuition. Mark kept saying we had to “be realistic.” He said retirement was too close, bills were too high, the economy was bad.
I watched my son pretend not to be disappointed when he agreed to take another student loan.
And all that time Mark was wiring money somewhere in secret and buying luxury watches.
The front door opened downstairs.
“Babe?” he called casually.
I wiped my face fast and walked into the kitchen before he could see I’d been crying. He kissed my cheek like always, started talking about traffic, then stopped mid-sentence when he saw dinner untouched.
“You okay?”
I looked at him and suddenly noticed things I’d ignored for months. The new boots he claimed were “discounted.” The expensive cologne. The fact he guarded that phone like it contained nuclear codes.
Then his smartwatch buzzed on his wrist.
He glanced down for half a second, but it was enough.
A woman’s name flashed across the screen.
Vanessa.
And under it:
“Did she suspect anything?”
He locked the screen instantly, but the damage was done.
For a second neither of us spoke.
Then Mark sighed. Actually sighed. Like he was tired of hiding it.
“I was going to tell you eventually,” he muttered.
That sentence hurt more than if he’d screamed.
Because it meant there really was something to tell.
Turns out Vanessa wasn’t just some affair. She was a real estate agent from Atlanta he’d been seeing for almost a year. And the wire transfer? Down payment on a condo.
Not for us.
For them.
I honestly don’t remember throwing the plate, but suddenly it shattered against the cabinet beside him and gravy slid down the wall.
Mark backed up stunned while I started laughing and crying at the same time.
Then he said the one thing that made everything even worse.
“She’s pregnant.”