Chapter 3
I stared at my name until the letters stopped looking like letters.
The signature had the same long C I used. The end of my last name curved in almost the right direction.
Almost.
I held the page beneath the desk lamp. On our tax papers, I always crossed the final letter sharply. Whoever signed this had made a smooth loop.
I took a photograph of the page.
Then I photographed every other page in the folder.
The agreement said the loan was from both Daniel and me to Megan’s new company. It set a repayment date in December and listed an address for her studio.
The money had left our savings account three weeks earlier.
I checked the account on my phone. Daniel had transferred it while I was working a double shift at the bakery.
The roof contractor had called the next day asking when he could start. I told him we were waiting on one more estimate.
Daniel had stood beside me when I said it.
I felt sick.
He came home twenty minutes after I did. I was waiting in the living room with the agreement on the coffee table.
He stopped when he saw it.
“Did you sign my name?”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
“I thought Megan brought it to you.”
“She never did.”
Daniel picked up the agreement and looked at the signature.
“Megan told me you’d signed while I was at work,” he said.
“And you didn’t ask me?”
“You’d already told me you didn’t want us to put money into her business.”
“Yes. I had.”
He sat down hard.
“Then why would I sign a loan?”
“I thought she talked to you. She said she explained the repayment plan.”
“You believed her because it was easier than hearing me say no.”
He did not argue.
I called the bank’s fraud department while he sat beside me. I explained that money had been transferred from our joint account, that my husband had approved the transfer, and that a loan document carried a signature I did not recognize as mine.
The woman on the phone asked careful questions. She explained that the bank would review the transfer, but because Daniel was an account holder, reversing it would not be simple.
“I understand,” I said.
I did not, not fully. I wrote down her name and the reference number anyway.
When I ended the call, Daniel said, “I’ll get the money back from Megan.”
“You should ask her for it. I’m also going to speak to a lawyer.”
He looked wounded.
“I’m not trying to take it from you.”
“I don’t know what to believe tonight.”
He accepted that in silence.
I called my sister, Tasha. She came over in slippers and a coat thrown over pajamas.
I told her what happened at the restaurant. Then I showed her the agreement.
“Do you want to stay with me?” she asked.
“Yes.”
Daniel rose.
“You don’t have to leave your home.”
“I know. I need space from you.”
I packed a bag. He did not follow me upstairs.
At Tasha’s place, I lay awake listening to the heater click on and off.
By morning, I had messages from Megan.
You made Daniel tell you the wrong way.
I never wanted the dinner to become a scene.
You know I’d never steal from you.
I saved them all.
Ryan called after breakfast.
“I found out about the loan,” he said. “I’m sorry.”
“Did you know she was getting money from Daniel?”
“No. I knew she’d been meeting someone about the studio. She told me it was family.”
“Why didn’t she tell you?”
“We’ve been arguing about money.”
He paused.
“There’s something else. Megan opened the studio account months before she told any of us about it. She used my address for some of the paperwork. I want to look through what came to the house.”
“Please don’t do anything you’re uncomfortable with because of me.”
“I’m doing it because she lied to me.”
After we hung up, I went to the bakery.
The back storeroom smelled damp. Water had stained the ceiling again after last night’s rain. My employee, June, stood beneath it holding a bucket.
“Another leak,” she said.
I looked at the bucket. Then at the roof estimate taped beside my office door.
June had worked for me for eight years. She knew I was saving for repairs. She did not know why the money was gone.
“I’m calling the contractor today,” I told her. “We’ll work out a plan.”
“Are you okay?”
“I will be.”
I wanted that to be true.
At noon, the contractor returned my call. He could patch the worst section temporarily, but the full repair required a deposit.
I opened my notebook and began listing options.
Then Lena called.
“Megan is telling people you accused her of having an affair,” she said. “I thought you should know.”
“I asked Daniel if he’d kissed her. I didn’t accuse her publicly.”
“I heard you at dinner. I know.”
“She’s trying to make the money disappear behind a different argument.”
Lena hesitated.
“Claire, there’s one more thing I remember. Before you came back, Daniel told Megan he wasn’t going to let her use you as part of the plan.”
May you like
“What plan?”
“That’s all I heard.”
