The Rule of Three by E. G. Scott

Author:E. G. Scott [Scott, E. G.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2022-08-09T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

MONICA

Spencer is staring out the kitchen window when I enter. The noise of the running water in the sink obscures my approach and he doesn’t even look over his shoulder to acknowledge me.

It is just after three p.m. and I haven’t seen him all day. He left the barbecue yesterday without saying goodbye, only sending me a one-line text that he’d gone. When I finally made it home after helping Vicky straighten up after the neighbors dispersed, he was locked in his office. When I woke this morning, his side of the bed was cold.

Spencer absently shuts off the water flow as he continues to gaze out the back, a similarly morose look on his face from our final days in Santa Clara. I stand very still and observe him looking out through the glass at something that I wonder if only he can see. There is a large chef’s knife on a cutting board behind him lying next to a half-sliced cucumber, and I doubt he would even react if I brandished it.

“Spence,” I finally say.

He doesn’t turn to face me, just lowers his head and fixes his gaze sideways on the surface of the counter adjacent to the sink.

“Hmm,” he murmurs.

“Can we talk about yesterday?” I take a seat at the table.

“What is there to talk about?” He sighs.

“You going apeshit on Terry, for starters,” I say carefully.

“He had it coming. He’s lucky that I didn’t squeeze harder.”

“Spence, you can’t just attack the host of the party. Especially not Terry.”

“Clearly I can. That guy needed to be taken down a few notches.”

“I apologized to Vicky and Terry on our behalf after you’d left. Terry still seemed pretty pissed off, though. You should talk to him as soon as possible.”

Spencer’s eyes flicker upward and I catch something north of irritation. “I wish you hadn’t done that,” he says.

“Done what? Apologize?”

He nods angrily.

“What did you expect me to do? Act like it didn’t happen? Half the neighborhood witnessed it.”

“I don’t care who saw it.”

“I’m trying to fit in here. I’m going to be getting grief about it until Labor Day.”

“You’ll be long gone before then,” he says cryptically.

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“We are leaving this weekend. I’ve already made arrangements.”

“Spence. Stop it.” I laugh nervously. “I told you that I would consider it, but that was just a couple of days ago.”

“You lost the right to decision-making when you started keeping secrets from me.”

“What are you talking about, Spence?”

“It doesn’t matter. I just have some loose ends to tie up.”

“I’m tired of running every time you get into a war with our neighbors.”

He sweeps his arm across the table, sending the ceramic fruit bowl crashing to the floor. An orange and a grapefruit roll in one direction and a peach in the other.

“Calm down!” I cry out.

The bowl lies in three jagged pieces off to the side. I don’t move.

“You are my wife and you will go wherever I say,” he growls.

“Where are we going?”

He stays silent.

“You aren’t even going to tell me where?”

“I can’t trust you.

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