Wife confronts husband over secret school project dinner — Then text messages reveal the daughter never even asked him to hide it
Chapter 8 — The Unsaved Caller
The phone on the counter kept buzzing.
The vibration rattled against the wooden surface.
Jordan did not move toward it.
His eyes darted from the illuminated screen back to Clara.
“Aren’t you going to answer that?” Clara asked.
Her voice was entirely flat.
Jordan crossed his arms over his green sweatshirt.
“It’s just a wrong number,” Jordan said.
“At nine o’clock at night?” Clara asked.
“From a local area code?”
She stepped around the edge of the dining table.
She closed the distance between them.
“Put it on speaker,” Clara demanded.
“Let’s hear who calls you right after a school administrator exposes your lies.”
Jordan shook his head.
“You’re making a big deal out of nothing,” he muttered.
He reached out quickly.
He grabbed the smartphone off the counter.
Before Clara could see the caller ID, Jordan slid the device straight into his front pants pocket.
“Give me the phone, Jordan,” Clara said.
She held out her hand.
“No,” Jordan said.
He backed up until his lower back hit the edge of the refrigerator.
“You have no right to search my personal belongings.”
“My husband is lying to me about where he was all afternoon,” Clara fired back.
“I have every right to know who is calling you right now.”
Clara blocked his only path toward the hallway.
She stood her ground near the wooden dining table.
Her maroon sweater sleeves were pushed up to her elbows.
“Hand over the phone,” Clara said.
“Tell me the truth about every single person you’ve been meeting behind my back.”
Jordan stared down at the bulge in his pocket where the phone continued to vibrate in short, rhythmic pulses.
The buzzing stopped for three seconds.
Then it started all over again.
Jordan exhaled a long, shaky breath.
He reached slowly into his pocket, pulled the glowing device back out, and placed it face-up on the center of the wooden dining table.
“Fine,” Jordan whispered, staring at the screen where a series of numbers blinked in the dim light.
“It’s time to tell you the complete truth.”
