The Consequences Read Online Free PDF

were flashing blue and red lights ahead and a trio of police cruisers were parked at an angle, blocking two lanes. Beyond them, ambulance lights rotated over a traffic accident. Just at the exit off the bridge, a small, nondescript Japanese import had run into the side of a white stretch limo. Half a dozen young men in tuxedos and women in evening gowns stood shivering on the sidewalk, while ambulance crews struggled to cut the driver out of the smaller car.
    â€œTheir Christmas party is ruined,” Joan remarked, nodding at the partygoers.
    â€œNot as much as his,” Stephanie said, looking at the bloody driver of the small car, now being laid out on a stretcher. “I wonder if there’s a family waiting for him to come home?” She suddenly glanced sidelong at her sister. “Is Eddie waiting for you? Does he know what you’re doing?”
    Joan drove in silence for a minute, then said suddenly, “No.”
    Stephanie straightened in the seat. “You mean, he’s expecting you at home tonight?”
    Joan checked the clock on the dashboard, not entirely sure if it was accurate or not. “Yeah, he’s probably home by now. I left him a note.”
    â€œJoannie, he’s probably frantic. Call him now!”
    â€œNo,” Joan said stubbornly.
    â€œYou have to talk to him.”
    â€œI don’t have to do anything. You have no idea what it’s like to have a man lie to you for weeks on end.”
    Stephanie opened her mouth to respond, then closed it again. “Tell me what happened.”
    â€œHe lied to me,” Joan snapped.
    â€œAll men lie,” Stephanie murmured. And women too, she added silently. “But let’s be honest, we wouldn’t want them to tell us the truth about everything, would we?”
    â€œWe were married for a year in October. We were starting to talk about having a family.”
    Stephanie was freezing. She was beginning to feel a headache—a combination of stress and recycled airplane air combined with jet lag and the bitter weather—pulse at the back of her eyes. Her stomach still felt queasy. She’d just flown halfway across the country, running away from her own affair; the last thing she needed to hear was that her brother-in-law was also behaving badly.
    â€œWe were doing fine: Eddie was working as a beer distributer for Miller Brewing; I had a part-time job in a graphics studio in Riverwest. We were even managing to save a little every month. We talked about buying a house and getting a dog. I really wanted to adopt a greyhound. I’ve always loved greyhounds.”
    And Eddie got bored with this little domestic idyll, Stephanie thought, found himself a woman, made her some promises, told her some lies. . . .
    â€œAnd for six weeks afterward, morning after morning, he went out to work. He even came home at the right time.”
    â€œStop, stop, stop! I think I missed something between beer distributer and greyhound.” Stephanie reached out to touch her sister’s arm. “And would you mind slowing down a little—you’re speeding.”
    â€œOh.” Joan eased up off the accelerator. As she’d been telling the story, she’d unconsciously been pushing her foot to the floor.
    â€œI’m sorry, I’m a little edgy. What do you mean he went out to work?”
    â€œAfter he was fired,” Joan snapped. “He pretended to go out to work. I only realized it when the bank statement came in and his salary was no longer directly deposited.”
    â€œI’m sorry. . . . I thought . . . when you said he’d lied to you . . . I thought there was another woman involved.”
    â€œAn affair! No way, Eddie knows what I’d do to him—and her—if I ever caught him with another woman!”
    â€œSo you’re leaving him because he lost his job?”
    â€œNo, I’m leaving him because he lied to me. More than once. He pretended to go to work for