a career ended with Amber’s birth. “Me working will just put us in a higher tax bracket. I’m better off staying home and saving the cost of childcare,” he had said.
It had seemed like a fair balance. Scott managed the money, the investments, the retirement accounts, the bills.
“I have to look at those accounts,” Justine said to herself. The one thing she would never advise a woman to do, she had done. It was out of sheer want of time—she couldn’t do it all. And now she had no idea what their true financial situation was. She had three credit cards, never worried about their balances, never wrote a check, never paid a bill. She earned the money, tried to be an attentive wife and mother, worked her ass off and had looked forward to a future of less stress and more fun.
Justine was fifty-two and had been with Scott since she was eighteen. And now he had another woman on the side. What would she do without him? They had always functioned as a team. She couldn’t do her work and his work too! And although she had no problem being alone, she couldn’t imagine having no partner. She thought she and Scott would grow old together, but now she would be alone forever. She didn’t think that due to low self-esteem or lack of confidence, but when the hell would she find the time to even consider a new companion?
Scott, on the other hand, had nothing but time to screw around. He didn’t have the pressure of bringing home a paycheck, for starters. His parents were healthy and strong and didn’t need him for anything but the occasional visit, and they usually provided a dinner or picnic if Scott and his family planned to stop by.
Justine had had years of supporting ill parents and her younger sister, who shouldered all the care. The younger sister she had promised to reward for the commitment she’d made to care for their parents. Now she didn’t even know what she would end up with for herself and her daughters.
She looked at the flowers. Was her life really this cliché? That he would cheat on her and then bring her flowers? To what end? To forgive him? To keep her from looking further into their problems where she would discover his lover? Did he in fact love that other woman?
Suddenly her arm shot out and swiped the vase and flowers off the counter, sending the container sailing across the kitchen and crashing against the cabinets. The flowers lay in the mess of shattered glass and dirty water on the floor.
She shook her head as she looked at the mess. It would not hurt Scott in any way, and now she would have to clean it up. At that moment she made a decision. From now on she would move with more precision and not do things that would only make her work harder. She would have to check her rage lest she make the situation worse for herself.
But she wasn’t going to take this sitting down.
* * *
Driving back home, all Adele could think about was Justine. It was that much more upsetting because Justine did not seem the least bit worried about Scott’s indiscretion. Even with her concerns about possibly losing her job, she’d been as cool as ever. Adele knew Justine had money and a good résumé, so she’d be all right. But what would she do about Scott? Because no matter what she said, Adele knew that her brother-in-law had crossed the line, been unfaithful, and she couldn’t imagine Justine letting that go with an apology.
But she also couldn’t imagine Justine without Scott. To be fifty-two and suddenly discover everything you believed in and valued most a lie? How devastating would that be?
Adele reminded herself that at least Justine had lived a rich life before reaching this crisis. In contrast, she had spent the last eight years treading water. And getting out of shape.
She was driving through town and toward her east end neighborhood when she passed a church with an adjacent building that held offices and a few classrooms. A sign in one of the windows said Weight Loss Clinic. She thought that maybe she could make that small