The Wife Between Us

Vanessa wakes the next day to Aunt Charlotte checking on her. She told her aunt she had the flu but expects that Charlotte can detect the very same symptoms in Vanessa that she nursed Vanessa’s mother through. Vanessa forces herself out of bed to make them breakfast and then goes to work.

At Saks, Vanessa’s manager, Lucille, is surprisingly kind to her. She expresses concern for Vanessa’s condition and offers support, but Vanessa realizes, as her manager’s eyes move from her worn-out Nikes to her bare ring finger, that Lucille is just now understanding Vanessa’s situation. Feeling ashamed, Vanessa tries to distract herself with work, but her thoughts drift back to Richard and his fiancée. She imagines the young woman rubbing her belly and Richard taking care of her. The thought reminds her of Richard’s optimism when she was trying to get pregnant.

Vanessa recalls her first fertility appointment and her panic when Richard called beforehand to say he had canceled a meeting to join her. She was worried about what questions the doctor would ask and what answers she would have to give in front of her husband. At the appointment, the fertility specialist assured Vanessa and Richard that it was still too early to pursue fertility treatment, but Richard was adamant about being pregnant immediately, despite the cost and side effects. Then, the moment Vanessa had been dreading arrived: the doctor asked if she had ever been pregnant. Certain that she hadn’t, Richard responded for her, but Vanessa told the truth: She had, once, when she was 21. Richard expressionlessly asked if she had had an abortion and Vanessa lied, saying she had had a miscarriage. Richard was polite through the rest of the appointment, but Vanessa noticed the coldness in his body towards her. After the appointment, Vanessa watched him walk away, thinking that her lie was not the first nor the last time she would betray Richard.

At Saks, Vanessa watches her pregnant coworker. Panic overwhelms her again as she wonders if her replacement is pregnant, and she is only able to make it through the rest of her day by the thought of going by the other woman’s apartment after work to find out. 

Nellie crouches over the toilet in Richard’s pristine bathroom, overly conscious of her own imperfections while surrounded by the perfection of Richard’s apartment. In the kitchen, she finds a note from him explaining that he’s gone to Atlanta for work, which surprises Nellie. She doesn’t remember him telling her about the trip—and it’s a Sunday. She calls him, still feeling guilty about the night before, and leaves a message telling him that she loves him. Soon after, the landline rings. A woman is on the other end asking for Richard, but when Nellie asks if it is Maureen, Richard’s sister, she hangs up abruptly. The call unnerves Nellie, and she leaves the apartment.

In the elevator, she encounters Richard’s neighbor, Mrs. Keene, who informs Nellie that she saw Richard’s ex at the apartment last week, handing the doorman a Tiffany’s bag to give to Richard. The news disturbs Nellie, and she worries that Richard may still be in contact with his ex. She returns to her apartment, happy to find Sam awake. Sam is visibly irritated with Nellie for disappearing the previous night after being late for dinner. Nellie bursts into tears and tells Sam about the call and the news from Mrs. Keene. Sam finds it innocent enough and pushes Nellie to speak with Richard about it. Nellie claims she can’t; Richard won’t open up about his first marriage. What she doesn’t tell Sam is that when she asked why his last relationship had failed, Richard twisted his face in disgust and said, “She wasn’t who I thought she was” (94). Though her best friend comforts her, Nellie notices that Sam’s expression is hard and unreadable—the same expression she wore when Nellie came home with the engagement ring. Nellie promises a night in of movies and take-out, but Sam seems unchanged.

Nellie goes to the preschool to clean out her classroom, and the school is eerily quiet and empty. She is on edge there, certain that she hears someone in the hall, so she texts Richard. When she looks out the window, she sees a woman at the gate, looking towards the school. As Nellie moves closer to the window, the woman jumps and moves towards the side entrance. Panicking, Nellies begins to leave just as Richard calls her. She calms once she reaches a busy street and Richard comforts her. Grateful to be back in his good graces, Nellie decides she doesn’t want to go back to teaching, but just wants to travel with Richard and have their own children.