Page 83 of The Husband I Left

But I also want to know. I want to see him in action. And Evan, damn him, has just handed me the perfect excuse.

“It’s fine,” I hear myself say.

The hostess places the menus and a couple of place settings on the table and gestures at the empty chairs. Oliver hesitates and then sits down next to Evan. Leo sits next to me.

Our server materializes to fill the new water glasses. “What can I get you gentlemen to drink?” she asks. Leo orders a Manhattan. Oliver asks for water. Just water.

“Are you sure?” the server asks. “We have a great wine list, or—”

“Water is fine,” Oliver says. “Thank you.”

The server departs. Leo settles back in his chair, looking like a man who has just been handed front-row tickets to a show he’s been dying to see. Oliver is holding his menu like a shield. And I am staring at my plate, discovering that every single word I have ever known has abandoned me at once.

“So,” Leo says brightly. “Genny. How’s the new job?”

“Fine,” I say.

“Oliver!” Evan says after a minute. “How’s the job hunt?”

“Fine,” Oliver says.

“Wonderful. Riveting stuff.” Evan looks between the two of us, waits three full seconds, and then makes a decision. He turns toward Leo, clears his throat, and pitches his voice higher. “Oh, Oliver,” he says, in what I realize with dawning horror is supposed to be me, “I’m simply torn with indecision. Have you really changed, Oliver? Tell me you’ve really changed. I fear another broken heart if you haven’t.”

Leo doesn’t miss a beat. He catches on so fast it’s like they rehearsed it. He straightens his spine, squares his shoulders, and drops his voice into a stiff baritone. “Genevieve,” he says gravely, “I have given up my fortune, my penthouse, and my dignity. What more can I do to convince you?”

There is a merciful brief reprieve when the server returns with Oliver and Leo’s drinks and takes their food order. When she leaves, I’m hopeful that Evan will have lost interest in this game and will move on to something else. My prayers are not answered.

“But Oliver,” he continues the moment the server is out of earshot. “What if Victoria sashays back into your life? What then?”

Leo places his hand on his heart, “Then I shall sashay her right back out.”

Evan gasps. “You promise?“

I am going to kill them. I am going to kill them both, and no jury of anyone who has ever had a best friend or an ex-husband will convict me. I risk a glance at Oliver, and he’s staring at Leo with a mortified expression, and the tips of his ears and his cheeks are going pink.

Evan inhales, and I can see the next act loading.

“Evan,” I say, glaring at him with every ounce of murder in my soul. “I will kill you. I will actually, literally kill you, and then I will tell your mother it was an accident, and she will believe me because she loves me more than she loves you.”

Evan laughs and reaches across the table to pat my hand. “I’m just trying to give you two ideas. Somebody has to move this plot along.”

“He’s not wrong,” Leo offers.

“Nobody asked you,” I shoot back.

“And yet here I am.” Leo raises his glass in a small toast. Then he turns to Evan, and they start talking about Los Angeles.

The food arrives. Leo and Evan barely pause their conversation to eat. Meanwhile, Oliver picks at his chicken piccata. I pick at my gnocchi. Every so often our eyes meet across the table and skitter apart like startled cats. It’s excruciating. It’s the longest meal of my life, and I once sat through a four-hour charity dinner next to a man who only wanted to talk about every yacht he’d ever owned.

Then, abruptly, Oliver sets down his fork.

“I just remembered,” he says to no one in particular, “I have some things I need to do tonight.” He’s already reaching for his coat, sliding it off the back of his chair. “Leo, I’ll Venmo you my half.”

“Mm,” Leo says, not looking away from Evan, who is in the middle of a story involving a parrot and a careless roommate. “Sure. Great.”

Oliver stands. He gives the table a small, formal nod; the kind of nod I used to watch him give at board dinners and says, “It was good to see you all.” And then he’s threading his way between the tables toward the door,

I wait for one second. Two. Evan is still talking about the parrot. Leo is laughing. Neither of them seems to have really noticed that Oliver left.