PART 1: THE FIFTEEN-THOUSAND-DOLLAR GOODBYE
My husband kissed me goodbye at JFK Airport, believing he had successfully abandoned me with his elderly parents for four years.
What he didn’t know was that I would cancel all six of his black credit cards before his plane left New York.
And the fifteen-thousand-dollar diamond he had just purchased for his mistress would become the first piece of evidence in our divorce.
Three days earlier, I had still believed my marriage could survive almost anything.
Then David announced that he was leaving for Tokyo.
For four years.
The silver fork slipped from my hand and struck my dinner plate with a sharp metallic sound.
“Four years?” I whispered.
David leaned across our dining table and covered my trembling fingers with his hand.
“It’s an extraordinary opportunity, Eleanor.”
He wore the gentle expression that had persuaded me to forgive broken promises throughout our eleven-year marriage.
