The Dress He Bought Three Days Early
She had started taking calls in the stairwell.
Twice, Rachel had walked into the stairwell and Emily had ended a call mid-sentence and smiled.
She had begun texting her husband when she left the office.
Every time.
Rachel noticed it because it was new and because Emily made a small joke about it once — “checking in with the warden” — in a tone that was funny for about a second and then wasn’t.
In January, Emily had asked Rachel, apropos of nothing, in a car, on the way back from a site visit, whether it was possible to open a bank account without a spouse finding out about it.