On her very first day at the new job, Niamh was asked to stay late–and she was the only one. By the time she finally finished up, it was nearly an hour past quitting
time.
“Sorry, sorry! You must’ve been waiting forever!” she called out, jogging out of the FY office building.
Lana’s car was parked at the curb, hazard lights blinking in the dark.
“Get in, we’ll talk in the car,” Lana called, waving her over.
Normally, Niamh would grab the passenger seat, but tonight Julian was already there, so she slid into the back beside him. Lana joked about being their personal chauffeur, which made Niamh crack a smile despite her exhaustion.
The three of them chatted and laughed, the heavy mood from work slowly lifting. Traffic was a nightmare, though, and it took almost an hour to reach the restaurant. By the time they arrived, night had fallen, and Lana kept clutching her stomach, groaning dramatically about how she was “starving to death,” sending Niamh into fits of giggles.
Honestly, Niamh had expected dinner to be something simple–maybe a pizza place or a cozy diner. That would have been more than enough of a celebration for her.
Instead, Lana and Julian swept her into The Gilded Anchor.
It was the same Michelin–starred restaurant where Marina had hosted lunch
earlier–the one attached to the famous Michelin Three Keys Ho
“You guys didn’t have to go all out like this…” Niamh protested, feeling a little uncomfortable. Lana and Julian both had regular jobs, nothing fancy, and she didn’t want them spending a fortune on her account. If anyone was supposed to treat tonight, it should have been her.
But Lana and Julian insisted–they’d already reserved a table, and there was no talking them out of it.
Once they sat down, conversation flowed easily, laughter echoing across the table.
“Spill it–how on earth did you land a job at FY?” Lana asked, clinking her wineglass against Niamh’s. “You know the top student at Aldenville couldn’t even get in there?”
“Clearly, the HR department was dazzled by my looks,” Niamh joked.
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11:31
Chapter 38
Lana nodded solemnly. “That explains everything.”
They bantered for a while before Julian finally chimed in. The detective agency had called him, he said–Niamh had listed Julian as her emergency contact, just in case her own phone was unreachable.
“Bad news,” Julian said quietly, pulling out his phone. “No hard evidence of Jonathan cheating.”
He slid it across for Niamh to see. Every photo was of Jonathan and Marina, always together, always side by side. There were even a few pictures of them with their arms around each other, entering and leaving different hotels.
Niamh’s grip tightened on her wineglass.
“The detective said this isn’t enough. They never even held hands–every shot just shows her linking arms with him. If Jonathan’s lawyers claim he just sees Marina as a sister, it’s hard to argue otherwise. There’s nothing conclusive here. No judge is going to be convinced by these.”
Julian’s disappointment was obvious; he’d really hoped hiring a detective would help Niamh get her divorce.
But Niamh, staring at the photos, was lost in thought.
She wasn’t wondering how to use them in court.
She was wondering–had Jonathan really cheated at all?
What if he hadn’t?
Her heart thudded in her chest. She couldn’t say what she was feeling–nervous, maybe, or hopeful, or something else she couldn’t quite name. She pinched the back of her hand, trying to snap herself out of it, but her thoughts kept spinning, and she didn’t even notice when the table had gone completely silent.
By the time she snapped back to reality, Jonathan was already standing at the edge of their table–and had been for quite some time.
חוף
