“Yeah, I know the feeling,” I said bitterly. “Let’s go.” I never got headaches, but I felt one coming on. “I haven’t eaten all day, and I owe you lunch.”
It was a mild late-fall afternoon, so we walked over to get shawarma sandwiches at an eatery in the town center. We sat at one of a dozen tables scattered around a massive fountain. It was a cloudy day, which matched my mood. I texted Lulu the news.
??WTF! Who is Samantha Price??????she responded. She was on a school field trip with one of her girls.??I’ll call as soon as I can.??
“How are you feeling?” Nasser asked.
“Like I got run over by a bus.” I set my phone down. “And you look like a kid who just found out Santa isn’t real.”
“Ali was practically a brother to me. But now with all this weird stuff we’re learning, it’s hard not to wonder who he really was.”
I bit into my sandwich. “Tell me about it,” I said miserably around the tender meat and garlicky white sauce filling my mouth. Ali had left Cozy Glenn to some strange woman. The man I thought I knew would never do that. Who was Ali, really? Did I know him at all? What else had been going on behind my back? Had he secretly laughed at my naivete?
Nasser reached across with a napkin and wiped the side of my mouth. “White sauce,” he said by way of explanation.
I took the napkin from him to clean up my own lips. “I feel like an idiot. I’m still desperate to believe there’s a reasonable explanation for all of this.”
“Me too.” He paused. “But, to be honest, I don’t know how likely that is anymore.”
My chest felt heavy as I set my sandwich down and reached for my phone. “OK. Samantha Price,” I said as I searched her name online with clumsy fingers, “tell me who the hell you are.” As much as I wanted—needed—to know the truth, I dreaded finding confirmation that I’d been an idiot, that my entire marriage was a lie.
There were dozens of Samantha Prices online. Frustration rippled through me. “This is going to take forever.”
“I’ll see if the researcher at the firm can turn up anything useful,” Nasser said as he finished up his shawarma.
“Has your researcher looked up Carol Darius?”
“Yes.”
“Did you find anything?”
He shook his head. “Nada.”
“Then I don’t hold out much hope that old Sammy will be any different.”
“Did Ali even have time to cheat?” Nasser asked. “He didn’t travel that much, did he?”
“Not a lot. Once or twice a month for a night or two here and there. Sometimes he stayed overnight if he went to the Baltimore office and the meetings ran late.”
Now I wondered. Had he really been in Baltimore? Or had he been with Samantha Price? Were they lovers? Was she The One? For all I knew, she was just the latest in a long list of women my husband slept with during our marriage. The thought of multiple affairs made the food in my stomach turn rancid. I pushed the remainder of my meal away, the garlicky smell making me queasy.
“Well, at least I have some good news to share,” Nasser said. “The settlement money should be wired to your bank account soon.” Perkins hadn’t budged on the $100,000 offer. Not that it mattered; any amount of money was a bonus.
I sipped my diet soda, hoping it would settle my stomach. “You should take your share of the settlement.”
He set his jaw. “I’m not taking money away from Ali’s kids.”
I knew before offering that he would refuse. I thought about the logistics. “When will the money show up?”
“It was already wired to your account. The funds should show up in a couple of days. Perkins made a point of saying he hopes that means that our business is concluded. He has a meeting with his client this afternoon. He hopes you are both done with this matter.”
“She would like that, wouldn’t ... wait.” I sat up straight. “Perkins has an appointment with Samantha Price today?Thisafternoon?”
A wary expression crossed his face. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
I jumped to my feet. “Let’s go.”
“Where to?”
