Chapter 13 - The Richmond Encounter
A business errand took me to Richmond in mid-April—my first time back in the city where Russell and I had spent the early years of our marriage.
I parked my car near the state capitol building to meet with an insurance adjuster regarding one of our commercial properties. Afterward, I decided to walk down Grace Street, letting the spring breeze off the James River cool my face.
As I passed a crowded outdoor café, a familiar voice cut through the hum of traffic and midday chatter.
“I’m just saying, the municipal bid should have gone through our office. We have the historical preservation credentials—”
I stopped.
Russell sat at a corner table with two men in ill-fitting suits. He looked older than his forty-seven years; the lines around his eyes were deeper, his posture slightly stooped, and his expensive wool coat had been replaced by a cheap nylon windbreaker that smelled faintly of stale tobacco. He was gesturing wildly with a paper coffee cup, trying desperately to project the effortless authority of a man who no longer had any ground to stand on.
Across the table sat Paige’s father—or perhaps a local contractor; it didn't matter. What mattered was the way Russell’s eyes flicked nervously toward the street corner every few seconds, as if he expected a process server or a collection agent to tap him on the shoulder.
He didn't see me. I stood behind a towering planter filled with purple pansies, watching him for three long, quiet seconds.
There was no anger left in my chest. No bitter sting of betrayal. There was only the strange, detached realization that the man I had spent eighteen years apologizing for, managing, and protecting was entirely, exhaustively ordinary. He was just a small-time grifter playing a high-stakes game with a deck of cards he didn't know how to shuffle.
I turned my back, adjusted my sunglasses, and kept walking down Grace Street toward my car.
May you like
My phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out. A text from Dana: Title transfer for the Alexandria storage unit is complete. All of Russell’s remaining boxes have been shipped to his brother’s cabinet shop C.O.D.
I smiled, unlocked my car, and drove out of the city without looking in the rear-view mirror once.
