“Shut up, Tanner.” Julian shoved his friend playfully. “Are you blind? It’s him. Come on, tell us what really went down!”
“Well, I guess I could,” I muttered. It had been a long time since I’d talked about it to anyone, and I was honestly a little nervous about going back through those particular memories. My wife would be busy until lunchtime, though, so I had plenty of time to kill.
“Yes!” Julian cheered, the look in his eyes even more starstruck than before.
“Before I get to that, though, I have to go back to the beginning,” I explained. “There was a lot that led up to us fighting. I guess it all really started with a case I worked on involving a murder of a politician…”
1
Senator Alexis Rothschild breathed a sigh of relief as she drove past the wrought-iron gate encircling her home. It had been a particularly trying day. The tax reform rally that afternoon had gone well, but she’d been ambushed by a horde of angry protesters waiting for her when she’d gotten back to her office. She was used to it by now, and most days, she had no trouble taking their criticism in stride, but she was still only human. Sometimes the stress just got too overwhelming, especially right now when she was dealing with her ex-husband’s tantrums.
“Well, soon-to-be ex-husband,” she thought to herself with a small smile as she brought the car to a stop. As she stepped out of her sleek black sedan, she glanced up at the massive, two-story brick colonial she currently called home. The thing was practically a mansion, with a front lawn so impractically big that it took the gardener nearly two hours to mow every week.
She hadn’t been keen on the idea of such a huge house, but her husband Ryan had insisted on it. He’d said there would be more room for the children to play and for Alexis to have her little hobby rooms. In the end, she’d agreed, more to make him happy than anything. Now, those rooms held only dark memories, and she couldn’t wait for the school year to end so she could sell it and relocate somewhere cozier with her two children.
She hurried up the porch steps, digging her key out of her purse as she did. The house was located on a large plot of land, far from any other houses or major streets. As a result, the entire area was plunged into darkness every night. Being outside after dark had always given Alexis the creeps, so she was glad when she was finally able to unlock the door and step into the warm, brightly illuminated foyer.
She could hear the sounds of a television drifting toward her from the living room.
“Esperanza,” she called as she walked toward the source of the noise. “Is that you?”
There was some kind of scary movie playing on the large flat-screen, and Alexis hoped that it was only her kids’ nanny and not one of her kids watching something that violent.
“Oh, welcome home, Ms. Rothschild,” the woman on the couch turned to greet her. “Olivia and Josh are both asleep already. Josh put up a bit of a fight, though.”
“That boy is too much,” Alexis chuckled. “Still, you got him down, so thank you.”
“Of course, Ms. Rothschild,” Esperanza smiled warmly. “Well, I’ll be going then.”
“Oh, you can finish your movie, if you’d like,” Alexis offered. It was the least she could do after she was so late getting home today.
“Oh, I couldn’t,” Esperanza protested weakly.
“I insist,” Alexis nodded. “In fact, let me get us some drinks. I’ll watch it with you.”
Before the other woman could argue again, Alexis took off toward the kitchen to prepare some virgin cocktails. It wouldn’t be responsible to give Esperanza alcohol when she’d be driving home soon. A few minutes later, the two of them were settled on the couch and ready to watch the end of the movie.
Alexis had never been a fan of horror movies, and she found herself jumping with fright at every tiny noise and movement. At one point, she even thought that she heard the front door open for real, and by the time it was done, Esperanza was cackling at how worked up she was.
“I’ll see you tomorrow morning,” Esperanza called a few minutes later as she left the house to head to her car. Alexis smiled in spite of herself and watched until she saw the other woman get into her car before shutting and locking the door.
The truth was, Alexis was lonely. She didn’t regret leaving the cruel man she’d once called her husband, but she just wasn’t used to being alone in such a huge house. She had her kids, of course, but they were sleeping peacefully right now. With Esperanza gone, the house seemed frighteningly empty and silent.
She turned to the kitchen to prepare a stronger drink and noticed a stack of mail on the kitchen island. Esperanza must have put them there and forgotten to tell Alexis about it. She flipped through them lazily. They were mostly spam and junk mail, with a few bills thrown in. At the bottom of the stack was a thick envelope that made her mouth go dry.
The name and address of the divorce lawyer she was using were displayed prominently in the corner of the envelope. She sighed in frustration as she dropped the envelopes back on the kitchen island and moved toward her wine rack instead. What she needed right now was to relax and unwind, not stress about the troubles in her life.
She was about to pull a bottle from the rack before changing her mind. This night called for something stronger, so she retrieved the stool tucked under one of the kitchen cabinets and used it to reach one of the bottles up on the highest shelf in the kitchen, far out of reach of the kids.
She grinned as she pulled her prize down from its perch and turned it over
