Bread.
Cakes.
Cookies.
One customer at a time.
Vanessa knew exactly how much work I poured into it.
That evening, I told Irvin what I thought.
“She isn’t helpless.”
He frowned.
“What do you mean?”
“She keeps inventing reasons to get you alone.”
He looked surprised.
“You think she’s flirting with me?”
“I know she is.”
He promised he would stop responding to every little request.
I believed him.
Irvin had never given me a reason not to.
Then Vanessa removed any remaining doubt.
A few days later, she came over while Irvin was at work.
We were sitting at my kitchen table when she took a slow sip of coffee and smiled at me.
“I’m going to take your husband.”
For a second, I thought she was joking.
I laughed once.
She didn’t.
“You should probably start preparing for divorce,” she added. “Men get bored after that many years.”