And then there was Claire.
Claire Bennett had been my best friend since our freshman year at UNC Asheville. We’d lived together for four years. She was my maid of honor. She held my hand the night my father died.
She came over every Sunday for dinner. She and Ethan got along great. Sometimes they’d stay up talking after I went to bed.
I thought it was sweet that my husband and my best friend were close.
That’s how blind I was.
About six weeks before that rainy Thursday, I started noticing things.
Ethan working late more than usual. Ethan taking calls in the backyard. Ethan changing the passcode on his phone.
Claire canceling Sunday dinners. Claire not quite meeting my eyes.
I told myself I was being paranoid.
Then, at 5:30 that Thursday afternoon, after Patricia drove away, I went downstairs to make myself some tea.
Ethan’s iPad was sitting on the kitchen counter, plugged in. He’d come home for lunch and left it there.
While I was standing at the stove, the screen lit up.
A message preview.
Claire: Meet me at the Exxon on Tunnel Rd at 6:30. I can’t keep sneaking around like this. You have to tell her.
I stood there in my kitchen with the kettle starting to whistle.
I read it four times.
Then I picked up the iPad. I typed in Ethan’s old passcode. It still worked. He’d changed his phone, but not his iPad.
There were six months of messages.
Six months.
My husband. And my best friend.
I set the iPad back down exactly where I’d found it. Screen down. Plugged in.
And I turned off the kettle.
At 5:40, Ethan’s car pulled into the driveway.
Sophia Rivers is an experienced News Content Editor with a sharp eye for detail and a passion for delivering accurate and engaging news stories. At TheArchivists, she specializes in curating, editing, and presenting news content that informs and resonates with a global audience.
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