“You realize, of course,” Parker Royston said easily, “that I’m actually in a war zone right now, right? And that my superiors are probably going to frown on me giving my twin sister marriage counseling when I’m supposed to be monitoring an Al Qaeda terrorist cell?”
“Oh c’mon,” Polly shot back easily, “Bin Laden has been holed up for a decade. You can’t take ten minutes to help me through what is quite possibly the most earth-shattering, despicable and emotional day of my life? Watching a cave or watching my marriage implode with the force of a thousand suns: you decide what sounds more interesting.”
“Yours would be more interesting if I wasn’t hip deep in sand with a dodgy cell coverage and the force of those thousand suns on top of my head right now.”
“Are you wearing sunscreen?” Polly immediately asked and Parker laughed out loud.
“Yes, twin, I’m wearing SPF 50, because Navy Seals always take time out of their day for a skincare regimen. I’ve been holed up here for over 24 hours! You think I have access to a bottle of Banana Boat?”
“You’re going to get freckles,” Polly said with a grin.
“They’ll match the ones on my ass, then.”
“Oh, ish, Parker,” Polly said, wrinkling her nose, while simultaneously feeling her shoulders relax at the teasing, even tone of her twin brother’s voice, despite the thousands of miles between them. Polly may be six minutes older, but sometimes, Parker seemed like the older sibling with his calm demeanor and talent at every single thing he put his mind to, like operating in a war zone on a daily basis.
Since Parker had joined up when he was eighteen, Polly had spent most of her adult life avoiding thoughts of what could happen to him in the service. Life without her twin simply wasn’t a thought her brain could process so instead, she pretended he was just ‘hanging out’ in Afghanistan, instead of going on near daily, very dangerous missions.
At the moment, however, the thought of life without her husband was rating pretty high on her mind.
“So Matthew was…” Parker prompted, and Polly snapped back into the conversation. “Is this the first time he’s…?”
Polly sighed heavily. “Matthew claims he’s never had another woman since we met, but he was a hound when I met him, and then today…”
“When you caught him…”
“No, the other thing. The reason I went home – Park, the firm’s accountant called. North & North, attorneys at law, had some ‘unsavory dealings’ on the books. After doing some investigating, doing a little digging, we think – well, he thinks, I don’t believe it – that Matthew embezzled money from our firm. So, I went home to have him disabuse me of this notion only to find him despoiling our marriage bed.”
“Honest to God, Polls, you are the only person I know who uses the word ‘despoiling’,” Parker said simply, and Polly barked out a laugh beside herself.
“Tell me what to do,” Polly said softly.
“You already know what to do, you just don’t want to do it,” Parker replied. “You have to go home, put on your big girl pants, and talk to him like a grown up instead of flouncing off in a snit.”
“We crossed out of ‘snit’ territory and into ‘so pissed I could kick your ass’ territory a while back,” Polly said sullenly. “And I never flounce.”
“Oh, you flounce,” Parker shot back. “And stop changing the subject.”
Polly sighed heavily. “Fine. You’re right. I have to talk to him.”
“And I have to get back to surveillance, so can we wrap up today’s episode of ‘The View’?” Parker said wryly.
“Please don’t tell me why you even know what ‘The View’ is,” Polly replied and Parker laughed.
“Head up, twin. It’s going to work out,” Parker said, his voice comforting across the miles. “Call me back and let me know if Matthew still has both his arms when you’re done with him, okay?”
“Okay,” Polly promised before they made their goodbyes.
She sat for several minutes, watching the waves hit the shoreline, trying to formulate what exactly she was going to say to Matthew – now she had not only the embezzlement monkey on her back, but the affair one as well.
Polly argued for a living – as a corporate attorney, she was paid handsomely to do so – but the trouble was, so was her husband, which is why their law firm was so successful.
This argument wasn’t going to be easy by any means.
Their lives were certainly not ones of discomfort or destitution. So why would Matthew steal from the coffers of the firm?
Only one way to find out.
Polly took a deep breath, tossed her phone back into her purse and put the car back into drive.
**
“Can we be calm and sensible about this?” Matthew said as Polly strode back through the front door of their home. She noted dispassionately that the house was spotless – at least the housekeeper had performed her hired duties before performing on her husband.
“I very much doubt it,” Polly said, tossing her purse onto the nearby divan, “but give it your best shot.”
“What you saw… well, that was unfortunate,” Matthew said, his smooth voice calm and comforting. “It was also an aberration. I swear, Polly, ever since I met you I’ve been faithful to you. You are my life, my partner, my wife – why would I risk damaging that?”
“I was just asking myself that very question,” Polly said, crossing her arms across her chest. “And the answer I’ve settled on so far is that you are an irrepressible horn dog who hasn’t been faithful or honest in ten years of marriage.”
“Now wait a minute,” Matthew said, striding over and grasping her upper arms in his hands, his eyes meeting hers, “that’s not fair. I have been faithful.”
“Really, Matthew?” Polly said, disentangling herself from his embrace roughly. “Have you always been honest with me? At work? Here at home?”
Matthew took a step back, as though sensing a trap of some sort. “Of course. Why would you ask me that?”
Polly took a deep breath, gathered her courage, and then spoke. “Because Doug Huntsman has uncovered some… misappropriation of funds from the firm’s accounts.”
“What, I forgot to write off a sushi lunch with a client?” Matthew said with the winsome smile that always made every woman in any room with Matthew, regardless of age or relationship status, smile in return and turn weak in the knees.
“No, you don’t have to worry about the sushi. But I’m ever so curious what one liner you have to explain why you’ve been using company checks and credit cards for something called ‘Cashmere’. I’m guessing it’s not sweaters. I certainly haven’t noticed any additions to our wardrobe.”
“They’re a client,” Matthew returned easily. “I’m sure it was for firm expenses.”
“I’m pretty sure we don’t have an escort agency on our books, Matthew,” Polly said, losing control on her temper. “I’m pretty sure Cashmere Escorts ties in very tidily to what I saw here today. You’ve been using OUR firm’s hard earning money for HOOKERS. Really, Matthew? I guess I’m only ten years younger than you, and now that I’ve past the age of PUBERTY, you must need to move on to something else younger before you hit fifty and have a midlife crisis. Again.”
“Again?”
“Yeah,” Polly shot back. “Because I’m pretty sure I was your first midlife crisis,” she said, her cheeks flushing with anger and shame at the brutal honesty of her words, though she had tried denying them for years. “Are you going for some sort of medal? All the ways to humiliate and disgust my wife? Because it’s working,” Polly bit off, her hands shaking with anger.
“You have this all wrong,” Matthew said, his voice contrite. “Sweetheart…”
“Oh no,” Polly said, straightening her shoulders. “There’s no sweetheart for you. I want you to pack a bag and leave this house until I decide what I’m going to do. But rest assured that you won’t like it, regardless of what I decide. I’m tired of the excuses, the lies, and the fact that you have never, never been honest with me.”
“Polly…” Matthew tried again, but Polly shook her head and turned her back on him.
“Go. Just go,” she whispered, and after several seconds, she heard his retreating footsteps as he went to their bedroom and hastily packed a bag. She didn’t move a muscle until he returned and waited to see if she would turn around.
She wouldn’t.
“I’ll call you,” Matthew said quietly. “We’ll talk.”
Polly remained stoically silent until the front door closed gently, and only then did the tears come.
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