The Wife Between Us

As Vanessa races towards the restaurant, she remembers the last time she was there with Richard. It had been his favorite, and they had gone there often, but they stopped abruptly after that time. Richard was running late, so Vanessa waited for him at the bar, sipping on mineral water. A man sent over a glass of wine, and Vanessa responded with a show of her wedding ring and small sip as thanks. The man came over, flirting with her just as Richard walked in and spotted them. Their dinner was tense and quiet, until Richard broke the silence by asking Vanessa if she was still in contact with the man who had gotten her pregnant in college. Shocked, Vanessa said no. Richard, though, continued to berate her, asking about the man at the bar and condemning her for drinking the wine “even though it might hurt [the] baby” (138). Vanessa responded that there was no baby and wondered why he was so angry with her. She abruptly left the restaurant, breaking into sobs outside. Richard followed to comfort her, apologizing for taking his horrible day out on her.

Vanessa reaches the restaurant, passing the concerned hostess and searching for Richard and his fiancée frantically. They have left, and Vanessa is rushed out of the restaurant, left to sob alone in front of it. 

Before Richard, Nellie was in love once before, in college. The relationship was inconsistent, and he was unreliable, but she loved that at first—until that night in October when she needed him most and he didn’t answer. She vowed then to “never again be with a man who’d look away when she began to fall” (142). Richard exceeded those expectations, seeming to anticipate her needs and catching her before she fell.

After their meal, Richard and Nellie walk to his apartment together. Nellie gets an unexpected call from Sam, who has misplaced her keys. Though she often loses them, Sam is particularly worried this time because she was showing the apartment to a dark-haired woman earlier and is worried she might have taken them. Richard arranges for the locks to be changed immediately, but Nellie is still uneasy about it. She reminds Richard of the calls she got and tells him of the woman who called his apartment while she was there. Richard is undisturbed, telling Nellie that it was a colleague of his, kissing her, and taking her to get gelato.

That night, Nellie notices that the framed picture of her of his nightstand is turned to face the wall. Following her gaze, Richard assures her that the maid cleaned that day. Then, as they lie beside one another, Richard opens up to Nellie in a way he never has before, telling her of the absence of his parents even before their deaths and the dominant role Maureen played in seeing him through college. Nellie is touched to see him so vulnerable. She thinks he has fallen asleep, but he surprises her when he climbs on top of her. She admits she wasn’t ready when he entered her but does not tell him to stop. Afterwards, he tells her about the first time he saw her. She was speaking with a boy, and Richard thought she looked like an angel. In a whisper, he tells Nellie that he thought she could save him from himself.