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My Husband Slept With My Sister — My Mom Asked Me To Lie To Her Husband For Her — Transcript

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0:00My husband slept with my younger sister,
0:02and my mother asked me to lie to her
0:04husband for her. My mother had known for
0:07nine weeks. She sat at my kitchen table
0:09with my sister beside her and laid a
0:12typed list in front of me. 11 Thursdays.
0:15Next to each date was the title of a
0:17book we had supposedly discussed at my
0:19book club. I didn't have a book club.
0:21Wade's going to call you, my mother
0:23said. What he doesn't know can't hurt
0:26him. All you have to say is that she was
0:28here. My sister wouldn't look at me.
0:31What none of them knew was that I was
0:32going to give Wade exactly what my
0:34mother asked for. An answer about every
0:37single one of those Thursdays. It
0:39started with a text I was never supposed
0:41to see. It was a Friday morning in June,
0:44and I was standing in my kitchen in
0:45Roanoke, Virginia, in my work clothes,
0:47pouring coffee into a travel mug. My
0:50name is Erin Doyle. I was 37 and I was a
0:53state probation officer. My whole job
0:56was sitting across a desk from people
0:58and knowing when they were lying to me.
1:00I was very good at it. Apparently not at
1:02home. My husband Dean was in the shower.
1:05My phone buzzed on the counter. It was
1:08my sister Kristen. Last night was worth
1:10every lie. Same room next Thursday? Tell
1:14mom to book it again. Then a kissing
1:16emoji. Then four seconds later, a second
1:19text. Wrong person. Erin ignored that.
1:22It was a joke from my friend. Later I'd
1:24learned she had Dean saved in her phone
1:26as D. I was E. Right next to each other.
1:30I read the first message three times.
1:32Same room. Tell mom to book it. Last
1:35night was Thursday. Dean had told me he
1:38was at a poker game in Salem. Kristen
1:40had told her husband she was at my house
1:42for book club. I knew that because two
1:45weeks earlier, Wade had thanked me at a
1:47cookout for keeping Kristen busy on
1:49Thursdays. I'd laughed because I thought
1:52he was confused. I set the coffee down.
1:55Upstairs, the shower was still running.
1:58My phone rang. It was my mother. I let
2:00it ring twice then answered. Erin,
2:03honey, she said very fast, Kristen sent
2:06you something by accident. Please don't
2:08do anything until we talk.
2:11say anything to Dean.
2:13say anything to anyone. I didn't answer.
2:16I listened to her breathe. In my line of
2:18work, the first thing a guilty person
2:20does is tell you what not to do. Mom, I
2:23said, how long have you known? There was
2:26a pause. That pause was my answer. Since
2:29Easter, she said finally. Erin, please,
2:32let me explain. You booked the room, I
2:35said, don't you? She hung up. The shower
2:39shut off. I heard Dean humming. He came
2:41downstairs 10 minutes later in his work
2:44polo, smelling like my shampoo and
2:46kissed my cheek. He was the sales
2:48manager at Kincaid Heating and Air, the
2:50company owned by my sister's husband's
2:52family. My brother-in-law had given him
2:55that job three years earlier. Dean
2:57reached past me for a mug. I held up my
3:00phone with Kristen's text on the screen.
3:02He read it. All the color left his face
3:05starting at the top. Erin, he said,
3:08that's not what it Same room next
3:10Thursday, I read. Tell mom to book it
3:13again. I put the phone down. I've had
3:16people try that line on me more times
3:18than I can count, Dean. Don't you dare
3:20try it in my kitchen. He sat down on a
3:23bar stool. He didn't cry. He looked at
3:26the floor like a man waiting for a
3:27verdict. How long? I asked. New years,
3:31he said. At your parents' party. It just
3:34happened. And it kept happening. On
3:37Thursdays? Yes. And my mother books the
3:41room. He closed his eyes. She said it
3:44was safer than us using our cards. She
3:46said she'd handle it. She'd handle it, I
3:49said. Get your keys. You can explain the
3:52rest to your brother. You're staying
3:54with him tonight. He looked up. Erin, I
3:57have to be at work at 8:00. Wade's going
4:00to
4:01Wade's your boss, I said, and he's
4:03married to the woman you were with last
4:05night. I think very carefully about how
4:07you walk into work this morning. When
4:10the front door shut behind him, I sat
4:12down on my kitchen floor and let myself
4:14have it. 10 minutes. I cried for the
4:17marriage, for the sister I used to have,
4:19and for the mother I apparently never
4:21did. Then I set a timer on my phone, and
4:24when it went off, I washed my face and
4:26called in a personal day. People lied to
4:28me for a living. I wasn't going to let
4:30my own family be the ones who got away
4:32with it. My mother called back at noon.
4:35We need to talk in person, she said.
4:38Sunday. I'll bring Kristin. Just us
4:41girls. Just us girls. That was what she
4:44used to say when she wanted something. I
4:46grew up in a yellow split level in Salem
4:48with my parents, Pam and Roger Shaw. My
4:51father managed the parts warehouse at
4:53the rail yard for 30 years and talked
4:54about as much as the boxes did. My
4:57mother ran everything else. Kristin was
4:59four years younger than me, and she was
5:01the one my mother built her life around.
5:04Kristin was the pretty one, the fun one,
5:06the one who married well. When she
5:08married Wade Kincaid six years earlier,
5:11my mother cried harder than the bride.
5:13The Kincaids owned the biggest heating
5:15and air company in the Roanoke Valley
5:17and a dozen rental houses besides.
5:19Within a year, my parents had moved into
5:21one of those rentals, a brick house in
5:24South Roanoke at a rent so low my mother
5:26bragged about it at church. Wade's
5:28mother, Eleanor, put my mother up for
5:31membership at her country club. My
5:33mother had never been happier. Kristin's
5:35marriage wasn't just a marriage. It was
5:38my mother's retirement plan. My mother
5:40had one sentence she used her whole
5:42life. What he doesn't know can't hurt
5:44him. She said it about my father when
5:47she bought things she didn't tell him
5:48about. She said it about teachers and
5:51doctors and the IRS. She said it to me
5:53at 15 when I asked whether we should
5:55tell Dad she dented his truck. It was
5:58the closest thing our family had to a
5:59motto. On Sunday afternoon, my mother
6:02and Kristin sat at my kitchen table. My
6:05father stayed in the car with the engine
6:07running. I could see him through the
6:09window staring straight ahead. My mother
6:11had brought a peach pie. She set it on
6:14the counter like a peace offering. Then
6:16she opened her purse and took out a
6:17single sheet of paper folded in thirds.
6:21She smoothed it flat in front of me. It
6:23was typed 11 Thursdays from the 10th of
6:26April to last week. Next to each date
6:29was the title of a book, a thriller, a
6:32memoir, two novels that had been on
6:34every bestseller list that spring.
6:36Wade's asking questions, my mother said.
6:40He found a hotel receipt in Kristen 's
6:42car. She told him it was from a girls
6:44trip. Then he asked why she's out every
6:47Thursday night. She told him she's in
6:49your book club. So this is your book
6:51club. She tapped the list. If he calls,
6:54you say she was here. 7 to 11, you
6:57talked about books. You drank wine.
7:00That's all. Mom, I said. You want me to
7:03lie to Wade for her? I want you to
7:06protect your sister's marriage, she
7:08said. Wade is the best thing that ever
7:10happened to this family. If he leaves
7:12her, she loses everything, that house,
7:15that life, and we lose ours. She glanced
7:19toward the window toward the car where
7:20my father sat. The rent on our house
7:23goes up $800 a month if the Kincades
7:25decide we're not family anymore. Do you
7:28understand that? What he doesn't know
7:30can't hurt him. I looked at my sister.
7:33She was twisting her wedding ring. A
7:35diamond Wade had picked out himself.
7:38Kristen, I said, do you love Dean? She
7:41finally looked at me. I don't know, she
7:43said. It's complicated. It's Thursdays,
7:47I said. That's not complicated. That's a
7:50schedule. Her eyes filled. Aaron,
7:53please, you know what Wade's family is
7:55like. If they find out, they'll destroy
7:57me. I thought for a second about the
8:00summer I was 16 and snuck out to see a
8:02boy my parents hated. When my mother
8:04came into my room at midnight,
8:0612-year-old Kristen was lying in my bed
8:08with the covers pulled up, pretending to
8:10be me. She took the grounding for it.
8:13She never told. She had lied to protect
8:16me once. Now she was asking me to lie so
8:18she could keep hurting someone else. And
8:21Dean? I asked my mother. Dean's staying
8:24at his brother's, she said briskly. You
8:27two can work that out however you want
8:29separately, quietly, without dragging
8:32Kristen into it. So I lose my husband
8:35and Kristen keeps hers, I said, because
8:38she married rich and I married the guy
8:40who sells air conditioners for him. My
8:43mother's jaw tightened. You've always
8:45been the strong one, Erin. You'll be
8:47fine. Kristen won't. I picked up the
8:50list. I read it twice, the way I read
8:53police reports. Then I folded it and put
8:55it in my pocket. Okay, I said. My mother
8:59blinked. Okay.
9:01I'll handle Wade, I said. My mother let
9:04out a breath. Kristen put her face in
9:06her hands and started to cry, the kind
9:08of crying that sounds like relief. My
9:10mother stood, hugged her, and looked at
9:12me over her head. Thank you, she said.
9:15You've always been the reliable one. I
9:18have, I said. She didn't hear what I
9:20meant by it. She took Kristen out to the
9:23car. My father didn't look at me through
9:25the window. He just put the car in
9:27reverse. That night I called Wade
9:29Kincaid and asked him to meet me at a
9:31diner on Williamson Road.
9:33He came straight from a job site, still
9:36in his company jacket with dust on his
9:38boots. Wade was 40, quiet, the kind of
9:40man who fixed your furnace at 2:00 in
9:42the morning on Christmas Eve and never
9:44sent a bill. I had always liked him. I
9:47slid into the booth across from him. I
9:49didn't waste his time. I put my phone on
9:52the table with Kristen's text on the
9:53screen. Then I put my mother's typed
9:56list beside it. My mother brought me
9:58this today, I said. She asked me to tell
10:01you Kristen's been at my book club every
10:03Thursday. I don't have a book club,
10:05Wade. She's been with Dean since New
10:08Year's and my mother booked their room.
10:11He read the text. He read the list. He
10:14didn'0 say anything for a long time. The
10:17waitress came by, looked at our faces
10:19and walked away. Finally, he said very
10:21quietly, your mom booked the room every
10:25week from what Dean told me. He put both
10:27hands flat on the table like he needed
10:29to hold it down. I gave Dean that job,
10:32he said. I put your parents in that
10:35house. I know. Why are you telling me?
10:38You could have just let it all blow up.
10:40Because they asked me to lie to you, I
10:42said, and I'm done being the person this
10:45family uses to clean up its messes. He
10:48looked at me for a long moment. What do
10:50we do? That word, we. First, I said, you
10:54don't say a word to Kristen, not
10:57tonight, not tomorrow. You go home and
10:59you act normal. I don't know if I can.
11:03You can because in Virginia, if you want
11:05to divorce someone for adultery, a judge
11:08needs more than a text. They need it
11:10corroborated, proof from somebody
11:12besides us. And if we prove it, the
11:15person who cheated usually can't ask for
11:17spousal support. Not from you, not from
11:20me. Wade stared at me. How do you know
11:23that? I sit across from defense
11:25attorneys all day, I said, and I called
11:28one this afternoon. The attorney's name
11:31was Vivian Petrakis. She had an office
11:34on Market Square with a view of the Mill
11:35Mountain Star and a reputation for never
11:38losing her temper or a case. Wade and I
11:41met with her Tuesday morning. She read
11:43the text, the list, and the hotel
11:45receipt Wade had found. Then she leaned
11:48back. This is a good start, she said,
11:51but Virginia requires corroboration, and
11:53a judge is going to want someone who can
11:55testify about what happened at that
11:57hotel. Hire a licensed private
11:59investigator. Let them document the next
12:02few Thursdays. Don't confront anybody.
12:05Don't threaten anybody. Let them keep
12:08doing exactly what they've been doing.
12:10She looked at me. Your mother asked you
12:12to lie. Are you willing to let her
12:14believe your lying without actually
12:16lying to a court or to anyone who asks
12:19you under oath? I've never lied to Wade,
12:21I said, and I'm not going to start, but
12:24my mother doesn't need to know that yet.
12:27Vivian almost smiled. Then you two are
12:30going to be fine. Wade hired a private
12:32investigator named Hector Salas, a
12:35retired state trooper with a gray
12:36mustache who carried a camera the size
12:38of a lunchbox. That Thursday, the 26th,
12:42Hector sat in the lobby of a business
12:44hotel near the airport with a newspaper
12:46and a cup of coffee. A little before
12:487:00, my mother walked in, went to the
12:50front desk and put a king room on her
12:53own credit card. 15 minutes later, my
12:55sister came in and my mother handed her
12:58the key card in the middle of the lobby
13:00and kissed her cheek. Then my husband
13:02walked in with a gym bag over his
13:04shoulder and took the elevator to the
13:06fourth floor. Hector photographed all of
13:09it. Then he photographed my mother
13:11getting into her car, reapplying her
13:13lipstick in the rearview mirror, and
13:15driving home to the house Wade's family
13:17owned. The next three weeks were the
13:19hardest acting job of my life. Wade went
13:22home every night and ate dinner across
13:24from my sister and asked about her day.
13:26I went to work and sat across from
13:28people on probation all day and didn't
13:30let one of them see my face crack, and
13:33my family thought I was on their side.
13:35The Monday after the first Thursday, my
13:37mother came by my house with a
13:39casserole. Has he called? she asked. Not
13:42yet, I said. When he does, you remember
13:45the list. I have it memorized, I said.
13:48It was true. On Wednesday, Kristen
13:51texted me a photo of a hardcover
13:53thriller, just in case he asks what
13:55we're reading this week. I wrote back,
13:57got it. Then I forwarded it to Vivian.
14:00The next Sunday, Wade and I did the
14:02hardest thing. We'd planned it at the
14:04diner. Wade waited until he knew my
14:06mother and Kristen were at my house,
14:08dropping off a lasagna and checking on
14:10me. Then he called. I put him on
14:13speaker, the way my mother had
14:15instructed me to do if he ever called.
14:17Aaron, Wade said in a tired, careful
14:20voice, Kristen says she's been at your
14:22book club on Thursdays. I just need to
14:25hear it from you. Is that true? My
14:27mother went perfectly still. Kristen
14:30stopped breathing. I looked straight at
14:32my mother. Wade, I said, I've never had
14:35a single book club meeting at my house.
14:37My mother's hand flew to her mouth. Then
14:40I kept going exactly the way we'd
14:42rehearsed it. But Kristen's been reading
14:44a lot. You should ask her about the
14:46thriller this week. I hear it has a
14:49twist ending. Silence on the line. Okay,
14:52Wade said. Thanks, Aaron. He hung up. My
14:56mother turned to me, white as paper.
14:58What was that? Why would you say that?
15:01He asked me a direct question, I said.
15:04I'm not going to lie to him, Mom. I told
15:06you I'd handle Wade. That's me handling
15:09him. Kristen was shaking.
15:12He's going to know. He's going to think
15:14you have a book club at someone else's
15:16house, I said, or that I'm bad at
15:18remembering things. Tell him whatever
15:21you want. You've been telling him
15:23whatever you want since New Years. My
15:25mother grabbed her purse. You were
15:27supposed to help us, she said. I'm
15:30helping, I said. You'll see. That night,
15:33Wade asked my sister one question over
15:35dinner, and she told him the book club
15:37had moved to a friend's house months
15:39ago, and I must have been confused. He
15:41said, Okay, and turned on the Braves
15:44game. She texted my mother, he bought
15:46it. They didn't stop. That was the thing
15:49about my mother. She couldn't imagine a
15:51world where she lost. She told Kristen
15:54that Wade believed her, that I just
15:56confused him, that one more month and
15:58Dean would find his own apartment and
16:00the whole thing could fade quietly. And
16:02Kristen believed her because Kristen had
16:05always believed her. Hector photographed
16:07two more Thursdays, July 10th.
16:10My mother at the front desk, my sister
16:12with the key card, my husband in the
16:14elevator. Same room number, fourth
16:17floor. The second Sunday in July, my
16:20mother insisted I come to brunch at the
16:22country club. Eleanor will be there, she
16:25said. It's important that she sees us
16:27all together. I went. I wanted to see
16:30it. My mother sat between Kristen and
16:32Wade's mother at a round table by the
16:34window, laughing a little too loudly,
16:37ordering mimosas for everyone. Eleanor
16:39Kincaid was 70, sharp as a tack, and
16:42wore pearls with a golf visor. Halfway
16:45through the eggs Benedict, she turned to
16:47me. Wade tells me you girls have a book
16:49club, she said. What are you reading?
16:52Under the table, my mother's foot
16:54pressed down on mine. Kristen stopped
16:56chewing. I put my fork down. Mrs.
16:59Kincaid, I said, I think Wade's going to
17:02tell you all about it very soon.
17:05He's better at the plot than I am.
17:07Eleanor looked at me for a long second.
17:10She was not a stupid woman. Then she
17:12smiled politely and asked the waiter for
17:14more coffee. In the parking lot, my
17:16mother grabbed my wrist. What is wrong
17:19with you? Nothing, mom, I said. I didn't
17:22lie. I never lie. You know that about
17:25me. She let go. She didn't know what to
17:28do with it. Kristen came over alone that
17:30Tuesday night. She stood on my porch
17:33with a hard cover memoir under her arm.
17:35Can you quiz me? she asked. In case Wade
17:39asks me about it. Mom says I need to
17:41know the ending. I let her in. We sat on
17:44my couch, the same couch where she used
17:46to fall asleep during movies when she
17:48was little. I opened the book to the
17:50back cover. Who does the narrator lie to
17:53first? I asked. Kristen frowned. Her
17:56husband. Her sister, I said. Read the
18:00book. She looked at me and for a second
18:02the mask slipped. Aaron, she said very
18:05quietly, do you hate me? No, I said. I
18:09just don't trust you. There's a
18:11difference and you taught it to me. She
18:13left the book on my coffee table. She
18:16never came back for it. Wade called me
18:18at 1:00 one morning that week. His voice
18:21was raw. I can't do this anymore, he
18:24said. She's lying next to me right now.
18:27I want to wake her up and throw that
18:29list in her face. If you do that
18:31tonight, I said, you'll feel good for 10
18:33minutes. Then she'll call my mother, and
18:36my mother will spin it, and Dean will
18:38say it was one time, and you'll have
18:40nothing but my word and a text a lawyer
18:42can argue about. One more Thursday,
18:44Wade, then you'll never have to wonder
18:47again. He was quiet for a long time. How
18:50are you this calm? I'm not calm, I said.
18:53I'm just better at hiding it than they
18:55are. He laughed once tired. One more
18:58Thursday, he said. Dean called me twice
19:01that month. The first time he cried and
19:03said he'd made a terrible mistake and
19:05wanted to come home. I asked if he'd be
19:07at the hotel Thursday. He hung up. The
19:10second time he asked if I'd keep his
19:12name on our health insurance until the
19:14end of the year. Ask your girlfriend's
19:16husband, I said. Oh, wait, he's your
19:20boss. On Monday, July 14th, Vivian filed
19:24my divorce on the grounds of adultery.
19:26Wade's attorney filed his the same
19:28morning. Neither of them would be served
19:30until Friday morning. Vivian timed it
19:32that way on purpose. Let them have one
19:35more Thursday, she said. Let your mother
19:38book the room. On Thursday, July 17th,
19:41Wade and I sat in two leather armchairs
19:43by the fireplace in the lobby of that
19:45hotel near the airport. Hector sat at
19:47the bar with his camera. The lobby
19:49smelled like coffee and carpet cleaner.
19:52A family with three kids was checking
19:53in. Two pilots were drinking iced tea.
19:57At 6:38, my mother walked through the
19:59sliding glass doors in a blue linen
20:01blouse, went to the front desk, and
20:03smiled at the clerk like an old friend.
20:05Hi, sweetheart. The usual, she said, and
20:09slid her credit card across the counter.
20:11The clerk, a young man named Tyler,
20:13smiled back. King room, fourth floor,
20:15Mrs. Shaw? Same as every Thursday. Same
20:19as every Thursday, Wade said loudly from
20:21the armchair. My mother around. I
20:24watched her see us, her daughter, her
20:27son-in-law, sitting together by a
20:29fireplace in a hotel lobby with no
20:32surprise on our faces at all. The key
20:34card was still in her hand. Wait, she
20:37said. Her voice came out high and thin.
20:40What a coincidence. It's not, Wade said.
20:43It's Thursday. The sliding doors opened
20:46again. Kristen walked in in a sundress
20:49scrolling on her phone. She looked up,
20:51saw her mother frozen at the desk, then
20:54saw her husband, then saw me. She
20:56stopped so suddenly her sandals squeaked
20:58on the tile. And then right behind her
21:01through the same doors, my husband
21:02walked in with his gym bag over his
21:04shoulder. For 3 seconds, nobody in that
21:06lobby moved. Even the family with three
21:09kids went quiet. Dean looked at me, then
21:12at Wade, then at the key card in my
21:14mother's hand, and his whole body seemed
21:16to fold in half. Kristen's phone slid
21:19out of her fingers and hit the tile. I
21:21stood up. I took my mother's typed list
21:23out of my purse and unfolded it. You
21:26asked me to lie to Wade for her, I said.
21:29You asked me to tell him she was at my
21:31book club on 11 Thursdays. I handed the
21:33list to Wade. So here's my answer. I'm
21:37giving him every one of them. Wade
21:39looked down at the list, then at my
21:41mother. April 10th, he read. A thriller.
21:45May 1st, a memoir.
21:47He folded it carefully and put it in his
21:49jacket pocket. My lawyer is going to
21:52love this. It's typed, Pam. You typed
21:55it. My mother found her voice. Wade,
21:58honey, this isn't what it looks like.
22:00Kristen and I were just booking a king
22:02room on the fourth floor, Wade said.
22:05Every Thursday since April. I have
22:07pictures of you handing her the key
22:09card, Pam. 3 weeks in a row. You kissed
22:12her cheek. My mother's face crumpled. I
22:15was trying to protect her, she
22:17whispered, from you finding out. That's
22:20what I'm saying, Wade said. Kristen took
22:23one step toward him. Wade, please, can
22:26we go home and talk about this?
22:28I'm sleeping at my mother's tonight,
22:30Wade said. Tomorrow morning you'll be
22:33served. My lawyer will explain how long
22:35you have to find somewhere else.
22:37Kristen's mouth opened. That's my house,
22:40too. It's my house, Wade said. I bought
22:43it two years before I met you. Read your
22:45prenup. Then he turned to Dean. Dean was
22:48still holding the gym bag like a shield.
22:51Dean, Wade said, leave your company
22:53truck in the lot tonight. He's at the
22:55front desk. Don't come in Monday or
22:58ever. Wade, come on, Dean said. I've got
23:02a mortgage. You've got half a mortgage,
23:04I said. And tomorrow morning you've got
23:07divorce papers. Answer the door. My
23:10mother turned to me. Her eyes were wet,
23:12furious, and terrified all at once. How
23:15could you do this to your sister? She
23:17said. In public, in front of strangers.
23:21I looked around the lobby. The family
23:23with three kids had quietly herded them
23:25toward the elevator. The two pilots were
23:28pretending very hard to look at their
23:30phones. Tyler at the front desk was
23:33holding my mother's credit card like it
23:34might explode. I didn't do anything to
23:37Kristen, I said. I just stopped lying
23:40for her. You always said what he doesn't
23:42know can't hurt him. I looked at Wade,
23:44then back at my mother. Turns out the
23:47part that hurts is what you didn't know,
23:48Mom. You didn't know I'd never lie for
23:51you. Not once. Not ever. Tyler cleared
23:54his throat very softly. Ma'am, he said
23:58to my mother, did you still want the
24:00room? Nobody laughed, but Wade made a
24:03sound that was almost a laugh, and he
24:05stood up, and he held the sliding door
24:07open for me, and we walked out of that
24:09hotel together into the July heat.
24:12Behind us, I heard my sister start to
24:13cry, and my mother start to talk, and my
24:16husband say nothing at all. In the
24:18parking lot, Wade leaned against his
24:20truck and let out a breath that seemed
24:22to come from his boots. You okay? He
24:25asked. No, I said, but I'm right. Some
24:28days that's better. He nodded. Thank
24:31you, Aaron, for not lying to me. Thank
24:34you for not making me, I said. The
24:37fallout started that night and it didn't
24:39stop. Dean left the company truck in the
24:41hotel lot with the keys at the front
24:43desk, and the next morning, every
24:45customer of Kincaid Heating and Air who
24:47called the sales line got a new voice on
24:49the phone. On Friday, Eleanor Kincaid
24:52called the country club and withdrew her
24:54sponsorship of my mother's membership.
24:57By Sunday, my mother's name was off the
24:59ladies' golf schedule, the garden
25:01committee, and the Christmas gala. Women
25:03who had eaten her peach pie for 6 years
25:06crossed the parking lot at church to
25:07avoid her. Then the letter came. Kincaid
25:10Properties sent my parents a notice that
25:12their lease would not be renewed when it
25:14expired on August 31st. Wade didn't have
25:17to give a reason. It was a 1-year lease,
25:20and Virginia law didn't require one. My
25:23parents had 6 weeks to find a new place
25:25on my father's pension and my mother's
25:27savings at market rent in a city where
25:30everyone knew why. 2 weeks after the
25:32hotel, Dean showed up at my office.
25:35He walked into the lobby of the
25:36probation office in a wrinkled shirt and
25:38asked the receptionist for me by name,
25:40and she called me out, and I made him
25:42talk to me right there in front of a
25:44waiting room full of people on probation
25:46who were very interested in his
25:47situation. Aaron, he said, please, I
25:51lost my job. Kristen won't talk to me.
25:54Wade's lawyer sent a letter about the
25:56company phone. I'm sleeping on my
25:58brother's couch. Can we talk about this
26:00at home? We don't have a home, I said. I
26:04have a home. You have a gym bag. I made
26:07a mistake. You made 28 mistakes, I said.
26:11Every Thursday since New Year's, I can
26:13count. I count people's lies for a
26:16living. He looked at the people in the
26:18waiting room. One of them, a big man in
26:21a hokey cap, shook his head slowly at
26:23Dean. Go home, Dean, I said, wherever
26:26that is now. I walked back through the
26:29security door and didn't look back. At
26:31the end of August, my parents moved into
26:33a two-bedroom apartment off Peters Creek
26:36Road. My father threw his back out
26:38carrying the boxes. That week, my mother
26:40called me one last time. I could hear
26:43packing tape in the background. She
26:45didn't ask how I was. Kristen's hearing
26:47is in September, she said. Her lawyer
26:50says if someone testifies she was at
26:52your house on those Thursdays, the
26:54investigator's pictures are just
26:56pictures. A mother and daughter in a
26:58hotel lobby. It could be anything. You
27:01want me to lie under oath, I said. I
27:04want you to tell them she was with you.
27:06You're her sister. Who would a judge
27:08believe over a probation officer?
27:11Mom, I said, you've asked me to lie for
27:14her twice now. The first time I told you
27:16I'd handle Wade. So this time I'll say
27:19it plainly. I'll testify for Wade. The
27:22line went quiet. You do that to your own
27:25sister? Under oath. Under oath is the
27:28one place you can't rewrite what I say,
27:31I said. She hung up. I blocked her
27:33number and my sister's and I stood in my
27:36kitchen and shook for a while. Then I
27:38made dinner. Both divorces moved fast.
27:41In Virginia, a corroborated adultery
27:43case doesn't make you wait a year. In
27:46September, I sat in the witness chair at
27:48the Roanoke courthouse. My mother sat in
27:51the second row behind Kristen in the
27:53same blue linen blouse she'd worn to the
27:55hotel. Kristen's lawyer asked me whether
27:58my sister had ever attended a book club
28:00at my house. I looked straight at my
28:02mother. No, I said. Never. My mother
28:06typed a list of dates and book titles
28:07and asked me to say she had. Wade's
28:10lawyer has the list. My mother looked
28:12down at her hands and didn't look up
28:14again. Hector testified about four
28:16Thursdays and handed over his
28:18photographs. Tyler from the front desk
28:21testified about the regular reservation
28:23and the name on the credit card. Wade
28:25lawyer entered my mother's typed list
28:27into evidence as exhibit seven. Under
28:30the prenup, Kristen had 30 days to move
28:33out of Wade's house. She walked away
28:35from her marriage with her car, her
28:37clothes, and nothing else. She asked the
28:39judge for spousal support. Under
28:42Virginia law, he denied it. Dean asked
28:44for spousal support from me because he'd
28:46lost his job. The judge denied that too
28:49in one sentence. I kept our house and
28:52refinanced to buy out his share of the
28:54equity. Cost me more than I wanted, but
28:56it was mine. Dean and Kristen tried
28:58living together for 6 weeks in a
29:00one-bedroom apartment near the
29:02interstate. Without Wade's money,
29:04Kristen discovered that Dean snored and
29:07owed child support from a first marriage
29:09he'd never quite mentioned to anyone and
29:11had nothing in savings. Without Wade's
29:13company, Dean discovered that nobody in
29:16the Roanoke Valley wanted to hire the
29:18man who'd slept with the boss's wife. By
29:20October, Kristen had moved into my
29:22parents' new apartment, sleeping on the
29:25pullout couch. Dean moved to a cousin's
29:27place in West Virginia. The last thing I
29:30heard, he was selling used cars. In
29:32November, my father wrote me a letter,
29:34not my mother, my father, the man who
29:37talked about as much as a warehouse box.
29:39It was one page in pencil.
29:42He wrote that he'd sat in that car on my
29:44street and known exactly what my mother
29:46was asking me to do and he hadn't come
29:48in because he'd spent 40 years not
29:50coming in.
29:51He wrote that he was sorry he'd let me
29:53be the only honest person in the family.
29:56He didn't ask for anything. I read it
29:58twice. I didn't write back. Not yet.
30:01Maybe not ever. But I kept it. And Wade?
30:05Wade sent me a box at Christmas. Inside
30:07were 11 books, every title from my
30:10mother's list, the thriller, the memoir,
30:12the two bestsellers, all of them in
30:14hardcover. The card said somebody in
30:16this family should finally read them.
30:18Thanks for the truth. W. So I started a
30:21book club, a real one, six women from my
30:24office and two from my street, the first
30:26Thursday of every month at my kitchen
30:28table, the same table where my mother
30:30laid down that list. We read one book
30:33from it every month. When we got to the
30:35thriller, one of the women asked me if
30:37I'd ever guessed a twist before the end.
30:40I laughed so hard I had to put my wine
30:42down. My mother spent my whole life
30:44telling me that what he doesn't know
30:45can't hurt him. She was wrong. Lies
30:48don't protect anyone. They just pick who
30:51gets hurt last. For 37 years, my family
30:54counted on me to be the one who covered,
30:56the one who smoothed things over, the
30:58one who'd say whatever kept the peace.
31:00They handed me a list of Thursdays and
31:02expected me to read my lines. Instead, I
31:05told the truth one Thursday at a time,
31:07and it turns out the truth was the only
31:09story on that whole list worth reading.

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