Chapter 4
I asked Lena to repeat Daniel’s words.
“He said, ‘I’m not letting you use Claire as part of the plan.’ Megan got angry. Then she climbed onto his lap.”
I thanked her and went into my office at the bakery.
The roof was leaking. Our savings were gone. My best friend had put my name on a document I had never signed.
I could not sort out another secret by guessing.
I called Daniel.
“Lena heard you mention a plan.”
He was quiet.
“Claire, I was coming to talk to you.”
“Talk now.”
“Megan wanted to hold the studio’s opening at your bakery. She thought you could provide the food and help promote it.”
“We’ve discussed that. I told her I couldn’t take on an event while the roof needed repair.”
“I told her you’d said no.”
“Then what was the plan?”
“She said she could pay you from the loan once the studio was running. She wanted me to bring it up again tonight, after I told you about the money.”
I leaned against the desk.
“She wanted me to cater her opening with money taken from my roof fund.”
“I refused that part.”
“Did you refuse to lend her the money?”
“No.”
The honesty hurt. I preferred it to another excuse.
“Lena heard her say you’d promised to tell me,” I said. “She got on your lap to force it.”
“I think so.”
“You could have stood up.”
“I know.”
After we ended the call, I called a lawyer Tasha knew. Her name was Priya Shah. She made room for me that afternoon.
I brought the agreement, bank record, roof estimate, and Megan’s messages.
Priya examined the signature.
“Do you have samples from around the same time?”
“I can get them.”
“Good. We’ll ask for the original document and confirm how it was signed. I’ll also write to Megan’s company requesting the money back.”
“What about Daniel?”
“He was entitled to authorize a transfer from a joint account. That doesn’t mean he was entitled to put your signature on this agreement. We need to separate what he did from what Megan may have done.”
I appreciated that she did not try to make everything simple.
I told her about the studio opening.
“Keep the messages,” she said. “For now, don’t let either of them turn this into a debate about whether you were jealous at dinner.”
At the bakery, June had moved a display rack away from the leak. The contractor was on the roof doing a temporary patch.
I told June the full repair might be delayed but that I was working on the deposit.
She looked at me carefully.
“If you need me to take an extra shift, I can.”
“I need you to keep the bakery running the way you always do.”
“That I can do.”
That evening, Ryan called.
He had found an email Megan sent herself and accidentally left open on their shared home computer. It mentioned the loan.
“Don’t send me anything until you’ve spoken with your own lawyer,” I said.
“I have an appointment tomorrow.”
“Good.”
He sounded surprised.
“I thought you’d want it immediately.”
“I want us both to handle this properly.”
“I’ll let you know what my lawyer says.”
He paused.
“Claire, I’m sorry I sat there at dinner. I thought if I ignored her behavior, it would pass.”
“I did that for years.”
“You didn’t know she treated other people this way too?”
“I knew she liked attention. I didn’t think she’d use my marriage to get it.”
Ryan gave a sad laugh.
“I kept saying she didn’t mean it. That didn’t help either of us.”
We said good night.
At Tasha’s, I found Daniel waiting outside with a paper bag from my favorite diner. He stayed by his car when I approached.
“I brought dinner,” he said. “You can take it without talking to me.”
I took the bag.
“Thank you.”
“I called Megan. I told her she needs to return the money.”
“What did she say?”
“She says she spent some on the studio already. She’ll give back the rest next month.”
“Did you ask her about my signature?”
“She said she brought it to you during your lunch break.”
“She didn’t.”
“I know that now.”
I looked at him.
“Did you know it was a lie when you took the papers home?”
“No. I knew I should have asked you. I didn’t.”
He let the answer stand.
May you like
As I went inside, my phone buzzed. Megan had posted a photograph of the studio’s new sign, with a caption thanking “the people who believed in me.”
Below it, she had tagged my bakery.
