The Affair by Colette Freedman Read Free Book Online Page A

were illegal in Massachusetts, but were legal to purchase in New Hampshire and Connecticut. The boys had picked up the fireworks just over the border in Seabrook, New Hampshire, and had set them off in the park near the house. She clearly remembered sitting on the bed with Brendan and Theresa on either side of her, watching the colorful explosions of light. The noise was incredible—a mixture of what sounded like gunfire, crackles, and tremendous explosions. A bonfire blazed in the distance, and showers of sparks filled up the sky. Even in the bedroom behind the closed triple-glazed windows, the air had tasted of burnt rubber tires. At one stage a spent rocket had fallen on the roof, then rolled and clattered off the tiles. The three of them had jumped in unison, thinking the roof was coming in.
    The three of them . . . because Robert had not been there. She’d remembered being almost grateful. He would probably have wanted to go out and argue with the boys, and God knows how that would have ended up. That night he had been in Connecticut having dinner with a prospective client; he’d stayed over and come back the following morning.
    But how then could he get a ticket in Jamaica Plain at 11:12 p.m.?
    Because—stupid—he had not been in Connecticut.
    Because—stupid—he had been driving through Jamaica Plain.
    She quickly rifled through the rest of the papers. Something else had bothered her. Yes. There was a Visa bill. Why was it here? She took care of the bills. In the early years of their marriage, Robert had looked after all the bills, and they’d ended up paying interest on more than one occasion because he’d forgotten to pay on time. Now, she paid all the bills and utilities. They had two platinum cards, one with Bank of America and one with Wells Fargo. They ran all the house expenses on the B of A card, and the business expenses on the Wells Fargo card.
    Kathy turned over the Visa bill again. It was an MBNA Platinum card. She frowned; she hadn’t known they had an MBNA account, and why had she never seen it before? Then she realized the bill had been sent to Charles Street, which was the office address in the city. It seemed to be entirely for Internet purchases: books, CDs, computer stuff. Kathy hadn’t known Robert bought anything online except for the occasional book from Amazon, and they tended to be work-related titles. There was nothing unusual in the bill . . . until she turned the page. There were three items listed on the second page. A purchase from QVC that came to $320. A bouquet of flowers ordered online from ProFlowers that came to $95 dollars. The most recent entry was for L’Espalier, the French restaurant in the Back Bay that Kathy had been dying to go to. It was for $210 dollars, and that expense had been incurred just over two weeks ago, on Tuesday, the third of December. Last night, looking at her husband’s phone, she’d noted that the Tuesdays were usually red flag days.
    She looked at the few pieces of information her cursory search had revealed. He had a credit card he’d told her nothing about; he had purchased a meal at a posh French restaurant two weeks ago when he’d supposedly been working; and—most damning of all—she was able to place him in Jamaica Plain in October, when he had told her he was in Connecticut. She also knew for a fact that he was not having dinner at Top of the Hub this evening.
    What more evidence did she need that he was having an affair?
    She hurried through the rest of the documents. But there was nothing of any interest in them. Robert was, by nature, a cautious man, and she was more than surprised that he’d left the incriminating papers on his desk. Kathy started to get angry; he was obviously counting on her docility and stupidity, or else he had so little respect for her that he thought that even if she did come into his room, she wouldn’t notice. She had a sudden temptation to rip every file out of the cabinets, shred them, then pile them