Martin opened the door and composed his shock in mere seconds when he saw who stood on his doorstep.
“Kelly. I didn’t know we were expecting you.” Martin held his arm out to gesture Kelly into the house. “I believe Olivia is upstairs.”
“Olivia didn’t tell you? We have a lady’s who lunch meeting this evening. We weren’t going to go, but they made this one mandatory. And I offered to drive Olivia, since we both live on this side of town. And I know how she gets about driving at night.”
Martin nodded, half-listening to her ramble. “Well, I’ll go see if she’s ready. I’m sure she’ll be down in a moment. She won’t want to keep you waiting.”
“Oh, thank you. I’ll wait in here.” Kelly gestured to the sitting room off the hall and sat on the couch.
Martin hurried up the stairs and out of sight.
Olivia stood at the doorway to their bedroom, still in her bathrobe and hair in rollers. She jumped when Martin reached the top of the stairs and waved her hand to rush him into the room before closing the door.
“I’m sorry. I need you to stall her. I’m not ready.”
Martin put his hands on his hips and raised an eyebrow at his wife. “Clearly. Do you even know what you’re going to wear?”
Oliva smiled and shrugged. “I didn’t really want to go. But then I decided I did and I’m trying to hurry. But I also forgot how much of blab she is and now I don’t want to go again.” She unclipped the rollers in her hair and shook out the long curls.
Martin rolled his eyes. “And how exactly am I supposed to stall her? Give her refreshments? Make small talk?”
-
Downstairs, Kelly sighed and stood again. She could hear them talking in low voices, and she worried they were fighting. She should have called when she was on her way. Maybe it would have given them more warning.
She paced around the room, looking closely at the picture frames on the shelves. Then she checked the time. They might be late if they didn’t get going soon. She hoped Martin wouldn’t tell Olivia she wasn’t allowed to go to the meeting. It would be something he would say. She remembered how he’d acted like he owned her when they were having their -
She shook her head and kept pacing. That had been years ago. And it probably wasn’t anything even remotely like the relationship he had with his wife.
-
“I don’t know how you can stall her. But we can’t just let her be alone downstairs for the next twenty minutes.” Olivia tossed her bathrobe to the bed and walked into the closet to find a suitable dress.
“Why not? You think she’s going to walk out with our couch or something?” Martin flopped onto the bed next to her bathrobe and watched Olivia hold different dresses up to her body.
-
Kelly opened the top drawer of the desk and rifled through the pens and pencils inside. Then she opened the next drawer and saw a stack of bills with a checkbook. And in the third drawer, some blank envelopes and stamps. But before she slid it closed again, she spotted writing on the corner of an envelope tucked further in the back of the drawer.
Kelly looked over her shoulder and peaked up the staircase, but the bedroom door was still closed. Then she pinched the corner of the envelope and tugged it out of the drawer.
Written on the back of the envelope was her name and address. She frowned and turned it around. The envelope was sealed. There was a dense weight to it, as though it contained several pieces of paper.
Kelly tapped her fingernails against the paper, staring up the stairs and wondering what could be inside.
-
Olivia switched the black dress for the blue dress and rolled her eyes. “Just go keep her busy until I’m ready to go. I don’t care if you talk about the weather and why grass is green. Just don’t fuck her.” She switched the blue for the green and turned to see it from a different angle. But in the reflection, she watched Martin’s shoulders stiffen.
“What? Why would you say that?”
Olivia tried to decide if there was something different in his tone. If maybe he sounded caught.
“It’s just an expression, dear.” Olivia zipped the green dress up her back and smoothed the skirt against her thighs. She slipped her feet into her most comfortable heels and stalked out of the closet. She posed in front of her husband. “But it doesn’t matter, because now I’m ready to go.”
Martin hurried to stand and kiss her cheek before she could walk away.
“We’ll be back after ten. You know how Patricia likes to talk.”
Olivia threw an extra twitch into her hips as she descended the stairs and hoped Martin would spend the rest of the evening in panic.
-
Kelly heard the door open and rushed to stuff the envelope back in the drawer. But she couldn’t get back to the couch before Olivia entered the room with a smile.
“Hey, Kelly. You ready?”
Kelly smiled and hoped her alarm didn’t show on her face. “Yes. Let’s get on the road.”
-
Once they were in the car and driving away, Martin opened the third drawer in the desk to find the letter he’d written to Kelly. The edges were crinkled as though it had been jammed around, but the seal hadn’t been broken.
He sighed. So, she couldn’t know.
-
Olivia double-checked her seat belt and folded her hands over her lap. She pursed her lips and schooled her expression into a smile before turning to Kelly.
“So, I heard you were sleeping with my husband.”
Kelly jumped, her hands tightened on the steering wheel. But she widened her smile and glanced over at Olivia.
“What? What are you talking about?”
Olivia shook her head and slid her gun out of her purse and held it against her thigh. “Don’t bother lying. I found his letter to you proclaiming his undying love. He said he was going to leave me for you and there was nothing I could do about it.”
The color drained from Kelly’s face. “That’s ridiculous.”
“Is it though?” Olivia raised the gun and pointed it at Kelly’s head. “Well, there is something I can do about it.” She squeezed the trigger, and the bullet tore into the side of Kelly’s face.
The car jerked and went off the road, flipping end over end when it hit the ditch.