Chapter 5 - Coffee Without Costumes
Celeste chose a twenty-four-hour diner in Evanston.
At eight the next morning, she looked nothing like the woman from the porch.
No red dress.
No cat ears.
No dramatic makeup.
Just jeans, a black sweater, damp hair, and the swollen eyes of someone who hadn't slept.
I almost hated her more that way.
It would have been easier if she had stayed a costume.
She slid into the booth across from me.
"I ordered coffee."
"I don't want anything from you."
"It's diner coffee. That's fair."
I didn't smile.
Neither did she.
For a while, we listened to plates clatter behind the counter.
Then she said, "I knew about you."
"We've established that."
"I didn't know everything."
"That sounds convenient."
"It is convenient. It's also true."
She wrapped both hands around the mug.
"Adrian and I started seeing each other four years ago."
I stared at her.
"Before me."
"Yes."
"While he was still married to Elise?"
"At the end. He said they were separated."
"Were they?"
"I don't know. I didn't ask enough questions."
That sentence surprised me.
Not because it excused her.
Because it sounded like something I might have said about myself.
Celeste continued.
"When you came along, he told me you were helping him with the company. Nothing serious. Then he proposed to you."
"And you stayed."
Her mouth tightened.
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because by then I had put six hundred thousand dollars into Blackwood Restoration and spent three years believing I was one hard season away from the life he kept promising."
I leaned back.
"So you married him."
"He asked me in January. Courthouse. Two witnesses. He said he couldn't announce it until the lender restructuring was done because clients would see my investment as a conflict."
"And my engagement?"
She looked down.
"He said it was ending."
I laughed.
"You literally joked about me believing the ring was real."
She met my eyes.
"Because I was cruel."
No defense.
Again.
It was disarming.
"I hated you," she said. "Not because you did anything. Because he listened when you talked about business. He took you to client dinners. He introduced you as brilliant. With me, I was always waiting for later. I told myself if you were stupid enough not to know, then you deserved it."
The waitress refilled our cups.
Neither of us spoke until she left.
"That's ugly," I said.
"I know."
"I'm not forgiving you because you're self-aware."
"I didn't ask you to."
She reached into her purse and pulled out a folded copy of a lender checklist.
"This is what Monday is about."
I didn't touch it.
She slid it closer.
The final item read PERSONAL GUARANTOR CONFIRMATION - EVELYN HART.
My full legal name.
Below it, another line.
SPOUSAL DISCLOSURE - PENDING.
I looked up.
"Spousal?"
Celeste's laugh had no humor in it.
"That's where the plan gets stupid."
"Explain."
"The lender thinks you and Adrian are already married."
My stomach dropped.
"What?"
"He listed you as spouse on a preliminary net-worth statement."
"But you're his spouse."
"Exactly."
I stared at the page.
This wasn't a mastermind plan.
It was worse in a smaller way.
It was a pile of lies that had grown until they physically contradicted one another.
"How did he think this would work?"
Celeste shrugged.
"He keeps assuming he'll solve the next problem before anyone checks the previous one."
That sounded exactly right.
"And the forged signature?"
"I don't know who signed it."
"You expect me to believe that?"
"No. But I didn't."
She hesitated.
"There's something else."
"There always is with him."
"He asked me to sign a backdated letter saying we'd separated in December."
"Did you?"
"No."
"Why not?"
She looked toward the window.
"Because I finally asked myself what happens when I stop being useful."
The answer sat between us.
Elise had found out.
I was finding out.
Celeste was only beginning to.
My phone rang.
Nate.
I answered immediately.
"I found something," he said.
His voice was low.
"Not a file. A person."
"Who?"
"Mara Collins in accounts payable. Adrian asked her to witness your signature yesterday. She refused."
I stood so quickly my knee hit the table.
"Where is she?"
"At the office. For now."
"What does that mean?"
Nate lowered his voice further.
"Adrian just arrived."
In the background, I heard a door slam.
May you like
Then Nate said, "And he knows she talked to me."
