A little searching revealed that her Hotmail account was password-protected; no surprise there. The password was “CharlieBen.” Nick saw that Emily had sent no new messages since the day before. “Good,” he said to himself, and he went off to pack a suitcase, which he then hid behind the sofa in the living room.
On Saturday night Nick refused sex entirely, mumbling vague excuses to Emily about being “tired;” and all day Sunday he largely ignored her, spending the entire day playing with the boys, doing all their favorite things.
By Sunday night Emily seemed really frightened, but Nick fended off all her attempts to talk about it. He went to bed early and again turned his back to her, stiffening noticeably when she spooned up against him.
**********************
Monday was the day Nick intended to drop the hammer. That morning at breakfast with the kids he adopted the role of a troubled guy trying to act normal—forcing smiles, giving his wife a big kiss while looking over her shoulder, seeming a little distracted.
When he left at 8:30 he drove most of the way to work, then stopped and parked in the lot of a KFC. Pulling out his laptop, he logged into Emily’s Hotmail account. Had he shaken her up enough to change her plans?
Sure enough there were two new messages. The first one had been sent by Emily on Sunday afternoon while he was playing with the boys in the back yard. It said
“Hey April:
“Something’s up with Nick—he’s distracted and troubled and won’t talk to me about it. I don’t think it’s work; it’s like he’s guilty about something, almost afraid of me. Can I call you tomorrow to talk?
“Love E”
And the second one to that dickhead Pritzker was even shorter, and quite satisfying. Emily had written it that morning at 8:38, five minutes after Nick had left the house.
“Dear Jason:
I’m sorry, I can’t meet you today, or ever again. I let my attraction to you get out of control, but I need to stop.
Please don’t contact me any more.
I’m sorry—
Emily”
Nick sat back and reflected. He’d gotten part of what he wanted, that was clear: Emily was worried enough about her marriage to see what a bad idea her whoring around with Jason Pritzker was. Whatever she imagined was bothering her husband, seeing him upset and distant had pulled her priorities back into a better balance.
But was that enough? Fuck no!
The answer was “fuck no!” for two very good reasons, one rational and the other less so. Nick realized that his unexplained behavior had put a major scare into Emily, and apparently brought her flirtation with that asshole to a stop. But did it mean she’d never stray again? He didn’t see why. What would prevent this from happening again, a year or five years from now, when she was reassured that everything was okay in her marriage? Couldn’t she succumb to her “lack of excitement” just as easily then? To say the least, Nick didn’t have any faith that it would never happen.
The second reason was simple enough: Nick was furious! He was hurt and he was angry. He’d given Emily everything: his heart, his devotion, his hard work, two fantastic boys they both adored. Did she think that HIS life was constant excitement? And yet HE wasn’t fucking around secretly with some bimbo, the way she’d been doing with that dickhead!