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“Well, see, they attached a video to the text, too,” I said.
“Of what?”
“Whoever this dude was, he filmed Laura leaving a restaurant with another guy.”
“Holy shit. She got caught?”
I nodded. “At first, I didn’t want to believe it. I thought they might just be friends. But something didn’t sit right with me the way they walked; they looked like they were trying to keep it on the down low. But they were doing a terrible job of it. You could just see they were into each other. Then the guy discreetly pinched her ass. She slapped his hand away and scolded him, but you could tell she liked it. Then they climbed into a Mercedes. He got behind the wheel ofmyMercedes. And before they drove off, they leaned over and kissed each other.”
“Holy fuck, bud,” Johnny said. “Why didn’t you ever tell me this?”
“Fuck it. Who cares. It was over, and that’s all that mattered to me,” I grumbled. “Once I got home and confronted Laura with the evidence, she broke down and told me the truth. He was a coworker. They’d been having an affair for almost a year.” I paused. “She said they were in love.”
“So who the hell sent you the video? Was it a PI?”
“It’d have to be a PI doing some pro bono work, because I sure didn’t ask for it. I didn’t have any clue something like that was going on.” I chuckled. “I texted the guy back and asked him who he was and why he sent that to me, but he never replied. Some random good Samaritan, I guess.”
“That’s so fucking weird.”
“Yeah. And that’s the story of how I found out my marriage was over.” I squeezed Johnny’s shoulder. “So… why are you asking me about ancient history, fella?”
He paused and took a long pull from his whiskey. “Honestly?” He’d barely said a word, and yet his voice started to tremble. “Things aren’t too good at home right now, Rusty.”
“You and Eleanor are having problems?” I was stunned. They’d been together since our sophomore year of high school. It felt like they’dalwaysbeen together, and it was impossible to imagine them apart. “What’s going on, man?”
“I don’t even know. But she’s so distant these days. Except when we’re fighting, which is always.”
“What are you fighting about?”
“What are wenotfighting about might be the better question.” He tutted. “We fight about everything, Rusty. I drink and smoke too much. I don’t make enough money. We don’t talk anymore, and when we do talk, I don’t listen. We never do anything fun, and I never take her out anywhere.”
Sounded like things were bad.
“Damn,” I grumbled.
“But we fight about Izzy more than anything.”
Her name made my throat tighten. “What about Isabelle?”
“Ele thinks I’m too hard on her.”
“Too hard on her?” I scoffed. “Granted, I don’t know all the details. But that seems weird, considering you were practically begging her to quit her waitress job earlier. A lot of parents out there would bethrilledif their kids moved out and got a job.”
“Yes! Thank you. Exactly,” Johnny said with an exasperated roll of his eyes.
“So why does Ele think you’re too hard on her?”
“Beats me,” Johnny said. “I mean, sure, I want her to get good grades, and I want her to get a degree she can actually use—not this underwater-basket-weaving crap that kids major in today.”
I chuckled. “Right. Makes sense.”
“So is that really being too hard on her? It’s not like I have anyactualcontrol over Izzy or what she does.” Johnny stared into his glass, the ice clinking as he swirled it. “Big fella, I can’t even tell you what a massive shitshow of a fight we had when she got into UNLV.”
“You didn’t want her to come here?”
“Vegas?!Hellno,” he said. “I wanted her to go to school in-state. Somewhere close to home, you know? But Izzy wanted to get out of Minnesota. And Ele agreed with her. Said we should let her spread her wings and fly. I put my foot down and said absolutely not. But Ele encouraged her, helped her apply for financial aid, and that was that. It was two against one. I had no chance.”
“Why’d she want to come to Las Vegas, anyway?”
