Douglas Chapel had been at GE for barely an hour before the rumors started. By the time Olivia Taylor was formally introduced to him, she already knew the name of the man who was about to become her obsession. Her initial attraction was visceral and immediate. He was tall, handsome, and possessed the kind of charisma that made people turn their heads in the cafeteria.
But Olivia was a senior associate attorney, a married woman, and not the kind of person who gushed over men in the workplace. She was a professional, a planner, someone who had carefully constructed every stage of her life—her marriage to David, her career, the colonial house in Delmar, and the conversations about starting a family. David was everything she thought she wanted. He was kind, gentle, patient, a middle school science teacher who had given up his dream of becoming a marine biologist to support her law school aspirations.
He loved her unconditionally, and they shared the kind of comfortable life that most people only dreamed of building. Buster, their enormous rescued Irish Wolfhound mix, was the only wildcard in their orderly existence. Then Doug Chapel moved into the office, and Olivia felt something shift inside her. She watched as her colleagues, including her own secretary Julie, shamelessly flirted with him.
She listened to the whispers about his bedroom skills and his extraordinary endowment. She tried to ignore it. She was a married woman. She was an attorney.
She would not be reduced to some silly office fantasy. But Doug Chapel was relentless. He found reasons to be in her office, standing too close, his body heat warming her skin. He flirted shamelessly, complimenting her hair, her shoes, the way she moved.
She found herself dressing differently, wearing skirts that grew tighter and shorter with each passing season. She stopped wearing her pantyhose and switched to lacy-topped stockings. When she was honest with herself, she knew she was dressing for him. Doug pursued her with a determination she had never known.
He suggested working lunches off campus, then after-work drinks. She couldn’t deny the excitement that coursed through her veins, nor the fear that she was walking a dangerous line. She was a woman with normal desires, she told herself. She had never known any man other than her husband, and the curiosity ate at her.
The October ice storm changed everything. David, worried about his wife driving home in the dangerous weather, drove his old diesel Ford pickup to pick her up from work. When he arrived, he saw Olivia walking out of the building—not alone, but with a tall man who held an umbrella over her head while his other arm wrapped around her waist. As she crossed the icy pavement, she leaned into the stranger with a familiarity that spoke volumes.
She didn’t touch her co-workers that way. She never had. David pulled his truck between the couple and the parking lot entrance. When Olivia and Doug looked up, stunned, David rolled down his window and leaned out into the freezing rain.
“I thought my wife could use a lift home,” he said. Doug swallowed whatever he was about to say. Olivia stood frozen, her mouth open. David looked at his wife and said, “Get in.
”
The drive home took over an hour in the storm. Neither of them spoke until they were almost home. “Were you ever going to tell me about him? ” David asked, his voice barely a whisper.
Olivia didn’t turn to face him. “There’s nothing to tell. Doug is a coworker. I like him, and he likes me.
”
“You get that close to all your work friends? ”
“No,” she admitted. “Doug is something special to me. We’re close in a way that is more than simple friendship.
”
His words were thick with sarcasm. “Just how far has this friendship gone with Mr. Umbrella? ”
“His name is Doug.
Douglas Chapel. ”
David pulled into their driveway without another word. Buster greeted him at the kitchen door, and despite the freezing rain, David took his dog out for their walk. When they returned, Olivia was waiting at the kitchen table with an open bottle of wine.
“We need to talk,” she said. He sat at the far end of the table, not looking at her directly. “I want you to know that I love you and I’m happy in our marriage,” she began. “But nothing of a romantic nature has happened with Doug.
Still, it’s fair to say we have a strong attraction to each other. ”
“And what is that supposed to mean? ”
“It means we have a strong marriage, and I’m committed to it. But I’m a woman with all the physical limitations of my desires.
I have known no other man but you. That I’m tempted by Doug is a fact I can’t deny. ”
“So say it. ”
She sighed.
“This isn’t easy. I’ve thought about it a lot, and I need to get Doug out of my system. It’s too hard working with him every day and not knowing what he would be like. ”
“You’re the only man I’ve ever been to bed with,” she continued.
“He’s supposed to be spectacular. I can’t help being curious. And he’s let me know he wants me. But I haven’t even kissed him, and I won’t—unless…
”
She let the word hang in the air. David rose from the table and said, “Buster needs feeding. ”
Three weeks passed. The conversation sat between them like a block of ice in the center of their home.
Then came the office holiday party, where Doug caught her outside her office and pulled her inside, closing the door behind them. He kissed her, and she responded with a passion that frightened her. She broke away. “I can’t,” she said.
“Why? You said your husband wouldn’t give us trouble. ”
“It’s still cheating. I owe David better.
”
“And what do you owe yourself? ” Doug asked. “You know what you want. You can’t deny this.
”
He pulled her into a tight embrace and kissed her again. She responded, her passion barely containable, but she broke away, sobbing. “I’m sorry. ”
“We’re just about out of time,” Doug said, frustrated.
“What do you mean? ”
“I’m being promoted to the New York City headquarters. I’m leaving at the end of January. It isn’t official until the first of the year, but they told me to get ready to move.
”
Olivia drove home that night with her thoughts spinning. Doug was leaving. If she wanted to touch him, taste him, know what it was like to be with another man, the time was now. She loved her husband, wanted a family with him, but motherhood suddenly felt like a trap closing in on her before she had experienced life.
Doug had asked what she owed herself. Wasn’t she owed something before she grew old? She decided she needed to be with Doug at least once before he left. But she wasn’t going to cheat.
She would talk to David and explain what she wanted. She would frame it as a discussion, a path to mutual understanding. After all, they usually spoke, and she usually got her way. The Sunday after the holiday party, she cooked David’s favorite pot roast.
After dinner, she changed into something soft and perfume-scented, slipping onto the couch beside him. “I want to talk about the problem that’s been between us,” she said. “What problem? ”
“My attraction to Doug Chapel.
”
“Doug would be Mr. Umbrella? ”
“Yes. ”
She took his hands in hers.
“I’m attracted to him. He wants me sexually, and I want him. It doesn’t change how I feel about you. I will want you always.
It’s just that I want him now, in the moment, and only physically. ”
David pulled away from her, forcing her to look him in the eyes. “Have you slept with him? This is not what a wife says to her husband unless she’s confessing something.
”
“I would never sleep with him without telling you first. ”
“So you’re telling me you want to have an affair? ”
“I want a fling before we have kids. I’ve never been with another man.
I was too busy studying to enjoy college or law school. I want one brief encounter, nothing more. He’s leaving after the new year. I want a weekend with him right before he goes.
”
“And if I say no? ”
“I was hoping you would understand that I need this experience. ”
She kissed him, pressed her body against his, and reached for him. As they made love, David was quiet, bittersweet.
Something had been lost. Olivia told Doug that her first weekend in January would belong to him. On Friday evening, she pulled her Audi into Doug’s garage, the open door concealing her arrival. He was waiting for her in the living room with champagne.
They had a romantic dinner, attended a show, and then he brought her back to his home. He undressed her slowly, savoring her like a priceless work of art, telling her how beautiful she was. The intimacy was unlike anything she had ever experienced. The weekend was blissful, but Sunday came too soon.
She left his house on Sunday evening, slipping out through the garage, unnoticed. When she pulled into her own driveway twenty minutes later, the house was dark. David’s truck was gone. Buster didn’t greet her at the door.
She called out for them, but there was no answer. She assumed David was taking a late walk with Buster, needing space. She poured herself a glass of wine and settled onto the couch to wait for him. She fell asleep.
The ringing of the doorbell woke her. Daylight streamed through the windows. When she opened the front door, a tall woman stood there with tightly pulled-back hair. She flashed a gold badge.
“Olivia Taylor? ”
“Yes. What is this about? ”
“I’m Detective Sylvia Marx.
May I come in? I need to ask you some questions about Douglas Chapel. ”
“Oh no,” Olivia exclaimed. “Did something happen to David?
”
“Not that I’m aware of,” the detective said, looking Olivia up and down. Olivia was still wearing the short black dress from her weekend away. “I’m here about Douglas Chapel. He was attacked last night as he put his trash out.
He claims he was jumped by a man wearing a ski mask and wielding a small club. ”
“Do you suspect David? ” Olivia asked. “Actually, no,” the detective said, suppressing a smile.
“David Taylor has been eliminated as a suspect. Although in the circumstances, he was our first thought, particularly since Mr. Chapel was so quick to tell us he had spent the weekend with you. ”
Olivia collapsed onto the couch, sick to her stomach.
“My husband isn’t a suspect? ”
“No. The manager and staff at the Albany Yacht Club say he launched his boat, the Amore, into the river yesterday afternoon and sailed south. They can place him in the Hudson around Poughkeepsie at the time of the attack.
”
“He took his little sailboat out on the river in January? ” Olivia asked incredulously. “A 38-foot Catalina,” the detective said, consulting her notebook. “He purchased it in December and was getting it ready all month.
They believe he’s headed south. ”
Olivia ran upstairs. David’s dresser drawers were empty, his closet mostly bare. On her dresser she found a greeting card with his handwriting tucked inside.
*Dear Olivia, I’ve accepted a job in Florida with a small Marine Research Institute. It’s just an entry-level position, but it’s a start. I’m sorry to leave like this, but I couldn’t stay in this marriage any longer. I think you were right when you said we should experience life before we truly settle down.
I will miss you, but I’m not sure I love you any longer. I’ve taken the money set aside in our baby fund and bought a boat that I can sail south and live on when I get to Florida. Do what you want about the house and a divorce. Hope you’re not mad and that things work out with that umbrella guy.
Goodbye. David. *
Detective Marx heard Olivia’s anguished cry and came upstairs. She helped the grieving woman to sit on the bed and then escorted her back down to the living room.
“I have one more question,” the detective said. “Did you observe Lewis Stevenson at any time during the days you spent with Mr. Chapel? ”
“You mean Julie’s husband?
My secretary’s husband? I’ve never met him. I don’t know what he looks like. ”
The detective handed Olivia a mug shot.
A crude-looking man stared back at her. “I’ve never seen him before,” Olivia said. “Just a possibility. He has a record for assault and a history of jealousy.
Once we eliminated your husband, he seemed the obvious choice. Unfortunately, he has an alibi. ”
“Will Doug be okay? ” Olivia asked.
“He was beaten rather badly, particularly about the genitals. He’s in the hospital. ”
“I’m going to have to go after my husband,” Olivia said. “Beg his forgiveness.
”
“That may be difficult,” the detective said. “He’s probably sailing under the George Washington Bridge as we speak. ”
The detective was wrong in one regard. By the time she left the Taylor residence, David Taylor and his dog Buster, aboard the 38-foot yacht Amore, had already passed the Statue of Liberty and exited New York Harbor.
David made a starboard turn to head south by southeast, putting New York on his stern and his marriage in his past.
