Instead, I opened my clutch and took out the velvet jewelry box.
For one second, hope crossed his face.
He must have thought I was surrendering. Or apologizing. Or giving him the birthday present he had been hinting about since summer.
I placed the box in his hand.
He opened it.
The Omega was gone.
Resting on the velvet cushion was a copy of the corporate resolution Richard had prepared revoking Greg’s signing authority, along with Richard’s embossed business card.
Greg stared at the paper.
Then at me.
“What is this?”
“Every equipment lease on the excavators, the deed to the staging yard, and the major lines of credit that keep Whitaker Landscape operating require my signature.”
His mouth tightened.
“You can’t do this.”
“I already did.”
“Deborah—”
“On Monday morning, you won’t even be able to fuel your truck on a company account without authorization.”
His eyes widened.
I took the box from his hand.
“Happy birthday, Greg.”
Then I walked back into the dining room.
I wish I could tell you I felt triumphant.
I didn’t.
I felt hollow.
The room had changed. Nobody knew where to look. Elena had moved her chair several inches away from Greg’s. Mason, one of our longtime commercial clients, stared at his plate. Two women I had hosted for Thanksgiving avoided my eyes entirely.
The sommelier approached me carefully.
“Ma’am, we do need to settle the account.”
“I understand.”
I paid the restaurant from my personal account.
Not for Greg.
For the staff.
They had served thirty people all evening and had nothing to do with my marriage.
Then I added a generous tip.
Greg watched me sign the receipt.
That may have been the first time in years he truly saw my name.
I left before the cake was served.
The $5,000 watch stayed in my purse.
At home, the house felt unfamiliar.
Greg and I had lived there for fourteen years. His golf shoes sat beside the back door. A half-read business magazine lay open on the coffee table. His dry cleaning hung from the dining room chair because he never remembered to take it upstairs.
I stood in the kitchen and looked at all the evidence of an ordinary marriage.