two long pulls.
“Screw it,” Matt said to himself. He drank the next bottle as fast as the first. As he cast his gaze over the pool, another forgotten memory popped into his head. The neurologist had told him it might happen this way. One or two small memories giving way to another and then another until eventually he had regained all of them. He knit his brow, concentrating on recovering the details of the memory—it was of a Wednesday dinner when Chris and Melinda had been over, a dinner not long after the fateful day when he’d spotted Erin kissing another man.
It hadn’t just been Chris and Melinda over for that Wednesday dinner. Alanna Brennan and her two boys were over as well. When I had gone to the garage to switch out the propane tanks for the grill, I’d heard female voices. I’d realized suddenly that Erin, Melinda, and Alanna were in the upstairs apartment checking out Erin’s latest painting. From where I was standing in the garage, a vent led directly to the floor above, and I could hear their conversation clearly. Normally, I wouldn’t eavesdrop, but something in my wife’s tone made me stop what I was doing and listen.
“Ran into him at the coffee shop by his gallery. I finally gave in and had lunch with him.”
“Really? I thought you didn’t want to work with anyone,” Alanna said.
“Well, at first I didn’t, but you know Gavin. He’s very, um…persistent,” Erin said.
“Very persistent and very cute,” Alanna said and then laughed. “Although his wife is a bit of a bitch.”
“I didn’t meet his wife.” Erin paused for a minute. “She was out of town when I toured the gallery. Gavin and I usually meet at the coffee shop. You know the one where I have a couple of paintings on display?”
“Flora?” Alanna asked.
“Yep. That’s the one. Anyway, Gavin liked what he saw and asked if I had any other works in progress,” Erin said.
“And?” Melinda prompted.
“And I brought him back here to my studio and showed him these two pieces,” Erin said. “He said he wanted me to do a gallery showing.”
I had felt my stomach clench. This was the first I’d heard of Erin bringing another man to the house to view her work. I thought of the guy I’d seen kissing Erin at Flora. This must be the same guy. I still couldn’t bring myself to ask Erin about it. Part of me didn’t want to admit my marriage was failing and that Erin maybe had fallen out of love with me.
“What kind of cut does Gavin get for any pieces that sell?” Melinda asked.
“Ten percent of gross sales. He said I’d need to have at least fifteen pieces done to make it worth his time,” Erin answered.
“What does Matt say about all this?” Melinda asked.
I stood very still at the mention of my name. I waited patiently for her answer, straining to hear.
“Matt doesn’t know yet,” Erin said.
“Isn’t that something you should discuss with him? I mean, he is your husband,” Melinda said, stressing the word “your.”
“I don’t see where any of this is your business, Melinda,” Erin said brusquely, then changed the subject. “I’m going to take this downstairs to show the boys. It’s a new piece I’ve been working on to display at Antoine’s.”
I could hear Erin walking downstairs. I was starting to leave the garage when I heard Melinda speak.
“What a bitch.”
“What are you talking about?” Alanna asked, clearly surprised at the exchange between Melinda and Erin.
“Gavin Beckwith. She’s sleeping with him. It’s very obvious. Why she would want to risk throwing all this away is beyond me. Matt deserves so much better.”
“Like you?” Alanna asked.
I had heard enough. I quietly left the garage and spent the rest of the evening in a foul mood. Now I was certain that Gavin was the guy I’d seen at the coffee shop earlier in the week. It was time to take action, no matter what the consequences. I needed to decide whether or not to confront Gavin or my wife first.
Matt opened a third beer and continued staring at the pool, its lights flickering under the water and giving off an eerie glow. Now, with all the pieces of his memory coming back together, he was starting to form a good idea of who could be behind all of this. He drank the rest of the beer while formulating a plan. The tricky part was how to do this without alerting Krapek or