Chapter 2 - The Town Where Nobody Knew Him
Newport was cold, gray, and beautiful.
The harbor smelled of saltwater, coffee, wet wood, and rain. Fishing boats rocked gently beneath the fog. The bookstore below Amy’s apartment had a faded blue sign that read:
THE ALBATROSS BOOKS & TEA.
It was nothing like the Upper East Side apartment Daniel had chosen.
No doorman.
No marble lobby.
No drivers waiting downstairs.
Just a narrow staircase, old hardwood floors, and windows overlooking the harbor.
Amy loved it immediately.
For the first few days, she barely left the apartment.
She slept.
She cried.
She ate toast at odd hours and listened to the rain against the windows.
Then, slowly, she began to breathe again.
The bookstore owner, an older woman named June, had known Claire for years. She brought Amy soup without asking questions and offered her a few quiet hours shelving books whenever she wanted something to do.
Amy learned the names of regular customers.
A retired fisherman who read mysteries.
A young mother who came in every Thursday with twin girls.
A teacher who bought poetry books and never remembered where he put his glasses.
No one there knew she was Daniel Harrison’s wife.
No one knew Harrison Freight Systems.
No one cared about the Manhattan gala.
And for the first time in seven years, Amy did not have to explain Daniel’s absence to anybody.
Meanwhile, Daniel returned to the empty apartment.
Amy’s closet was half-empty.
Her favorite tea was gone.
Her laptop charger had disappeared from the kitchen counter.
The framed photograph from their first anniversary was missing from the bedroom shelf.
But other things remained.
Her slippers.
A book on the nightstand.
A scarf hanging near the door.
Her entire life seemed to be everywhere and nowhere.
Margaret came over the next morning.
Daniel was sitting at the kitchen island with the ultrasound photograph in front of him.
“You should eat,” she said.
“I should find her.”
“You should respect that she left.”
“She is carrying my child.”
“She was carrying your child while you were dancing with another woman.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Mom, I did not sleep with Vanessa.”
Margaret looked at him carefully.
“Did you make Amy feel like she mattered less than Vanessa?”
Daniel did not answer.
“Did you cancel plans with Amy for Vanessa’s events?”
Silence.
“Did you let Vanessa call you late at night?”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“Did you allow people to believe she was your partner?”
His expression broke.
Margaret sat across from him.
“Sometimes betrayal does not begin in a hotel room,” she said. “Sometimes it begins when you repeatedly make someone feel like they are an interruption in their own marriage.”
Daniel looked down at the ultrasound.
“I need to fix this.”
May you like
Margaret shook her head.
“No. First, you need to understand it.”
