There are only two things inside the safe. A framed picture and a medium-sized envelope.
I pull both out and look at the picture first. My heart stops. It’s a picture of Reid in a tux, but about 10 years younger, standing next to a woman in a wedding dress. This must have been his wedding day to his wife.
I asked him about her and all he would tell me was that her name was June, and that she died in a car crash a year after Ethan was born. I’ve never seen a picture of her.
I always wondered why there are no pictures of her around the house. It occurred to me to bring it up to Reid a couple of times, but I ultimately decided it’s none of my business. It’s possible that he hasn’t gotten over her death.
He was married to the woman, so I’m sure he was in love with her and devastated when she died. Although I thought it would be good to have Ethan’s mother’s face present in his home, I didn’t bring it up.
I stare at the picture for probably way too long. She looks happy in her halter neck wedding dress; her smile is so big that her eyes are merely slits as her beautiful face and brown hair, which is very similar to mine, catch the sun. She clings to Reid’s arm, and he looks carefree, in a way. I don’t think he’s ever been truly carefree, but he looks like he had less of the weight of the world on his shoulders back then.
After a while, I put it back in the safe and stick my hand in the envelope.
I pull out a wad of pictures. The first one is a picture that looks like June crossing the street.
When was this taken?
I scrutinize the picture which is when I realize she’s wearing a Chanel skirt.
A Chanel skirt from… this past season.
As in, from a couple of months ago. I know because it was in every magazine I looked through when I was looking for clothes to fool my mother into believing I was doing better than I actually am.
How can this be? She died two years ago. So why is there a picture of her in a brand new design?
I turn the picture around and I’m even more shocked by the date. This picture was taken two weeks ago.
What the hell is going on here?
I looked through all the other pictures and it’s picture after picture of June living her life. Her getting coffee, getting her hair done, getting her nails done, shopping, there’s even one of her on a date.
The more pictures I see of her just existing the more my skin crawls. This is some real stalker-y shit. Has he been lying this entire time? Well, clearly, because here his ex-wife is, alive.
What the fuck happened?
Are they still married? Was he having an affair with me when we were together? Or did she divorce him and now he’s stalking her? That makes no sense. If she’s alive, why would she not be in contact with her son?
Reid can be cold at times, but I don’t know him to be vindictive. Even if he and his wife got divorced, he isn’t the kind of person to keep their son away from her. Which brings me back to the question of why she isn’t in her son’s life.
Did Reid kidnap Ethan and is keeping him away from his mother?
I doubt that. Although I wouldn’t call him famous, he isn’t unknown. He isn’t the kind of person who can commit that kind of a crime and get away with it. He’s in the news all the time. So she must know where he is.
None of this makes any sense.
Although I know he doesn’t want to talk about it, there’s only one person who can explain any of this to me. I know I have no right to demand that of him, but I am going to.
Reid pulled me into his life and then summarily dismissed me. I at least deserve an explanation. If he turned me into an adulterer, I need to know.
When he gets home today I’m going to confront him about this. I don’t care whether he wants to talk about it or not. He’s going to. I know it’s going to be like trying to get juice out of a rock, but by God, I will squeeze the truth out of him.
I’m very aware that he may blow up at me even worse than he did when he was dumping me. It’ll probably be so bad that I won’t be able to live under the same roof as him. Although that would be unfortunate, I need to know, because there’s a part of me that hopes he can explain this away.
I’m hoping that there’s something I might be missing with all of this. That the man I’m head over heels for didn’t commit some heinous crime.
Even though he broke up with me, I don’t want to believe that he’s capable of such a thing. However, I fear the truth will not put my mind to ease.
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