Page 158 of Perfect
Bunny has always been so understanding when I lose my temper, but not this time. I don’t know what changed, but it’stime for her to come home. I need to show her that I can change for her, that I can be better.
I stare up at the painting of her as a little girl, sweet and lost the way she was when I found her. She needed me to take care of her then, and she needs me to take care of her now,bettercare of her.
Once I find her, Bunny’s never going to run away from me again.
***
I grab my gun and my surveillance camera, pack a bag, and spend the entire redeye to Portland trying to keep my emotions in check. I’m fucking furious that she ran away from me, but I’m so relieved she’s alive. I was such a piece of shit that night, but I still don’t know why she hasn’t come home.
Maybe she’s afraid that I won’t take her back or something.
Bunny’s always been so fragile and irrational, but she deserves me to be better, so I’m going to try to be understanding and figure out how to fix things with her. We can try that bullshit couples counseling my partner Marquez’s wife forced him into.
Maybe Bunny would appreciate that.
It’s early, so I get through the airport and get my rental car quickly, navigating to the small coastal town’s recreation center. Bunny likes routine, so she’ll be there for the Pilates class today. I’ll find her, tail her for a while, see what she’s been doing, and then I’ll figure out the right way to make her come home with me.
At twelve-eleven, I see her walk up to the building quickly, her gym bag slung over her shoulder and a large vase of flowers in her arms. After all this time, seeing her is like getting hit with a freight train.
God, I didn’t realize how much I missed her.
She looksterrible. She’s obviously been depressed, the way she was that first year we were married, because she’s completely let herself go. She looks like a completely different person now, and I don’t like it. It’s going to take her a lot of time and effort to get her back to herself, but she can do that when we get home.
Fuck, what are we going to tell people when we get home?
I chain smoke while I wait for the class to be over, trying to calm myself down. I’m still shocked that she’s not dead. Once I see her leave, I get back in my car, following her at a distance. She’s walking quickly, texting occasionally before finally reaching a small house and climbing the stairs with a bounce in her step.
She doesn’t seem depressed.
I park two houses down and get out of the car, keeping a ball cap pulled down over my eyes and walking past the house quickly, seeing a sign that shows the house is a law office.
Does Bunny have a fuckingjob?
She’s never had to work a day in her life because I’m a good husband, and I’ve always provided a comfortable and easy life for her, but I guess she’d have to work without me. She’ll be suspicious if the office gets a call with a Boston area code, so I hide my number when I call the firm, and she picks up immediately.
“Cairn and Reed, Alex speaking,” she chirps over the phone. “Hello?” I hang up quickly, grabbing my pack of cigarettes with shaking hands and lighting up.
She’s using a fake name, she looks different enough that cameras haven’t caught her before this, and she found a job where she got hired without using her legal name or social security number.
Alice didn’t just run, she’s beenhidingfrom me.
How would she even knowhowto do all of this? I checked her phone, her tablet, and her laptop, but there was nothing in her search history that would have helped her disappear like this. Why would she do this to me over one stupid fight? I know it was bad, but she’s making me feel like a fucking monster. My temper starts to rise the more I think about it.
I want to know just what the fuck she’s been up to out here.
I light another cigarette and walk around the block, grabbing a cup of coffee once I’m done smoking and walking past her office again, keeping my face turned away. The house is raised off the street, so I can’t see inside, but that doesn’t mean she can’t see out. It starts raining hard, so I get back in the car and wait, only occasionally leaving to smoke under the shade of a tree.
Around four-fifty, I see her leaving her office with a few massive bouquets in her arms, a plump woman with a mass of black curls following her, also carrying bouquets.
What’s with all the flowers? Did someone die?
She helps the woman load them into her car that's parked right across the street from mine, but Alice doesn’t notice me. I look closely at her hands and almost bolt out of the car.
She’s not wearing her fucking wedding ring.
Has Alice lost her goddamn fuckingmind? She’s still my wife. I watch as she hugs the other woman and hurries back inside to get out of the rain, and I barely notice as a car turns down the street and parks in a spot the woman just vacated.
I only clock it because the tall guy who gets out of the old silver hatchback walks up the stairs to the door and leans against the wall, checking his phone. My hands tense on the steering wheel.
