After 17 years of marriage, I never expected another woman to sit in my kitchen and calmly tell me she planned to take my husband. When Vanessa stopped hiding what she wanted, I decided arguing with her wouldn’t be nearly as effective as letting her think she was winning.
My husband, Irvin, and I had been married for 17 years when Vanessa moved into the house next door.
She was recently divorced, beautiful, confident, and alone.
At first, I felt sorry for her.
I baked her a “welcome to the neighborhood” pie. Apple, of course.
Vanessa moved into the house next door.
I helped her unpack a few boxes, and invited her for coffee because I remembered how miserable moving could be.
That was my mistake.
Within weeks, Vanessa developed a strange dependence on Irvin. Whenever something needed doing, she called him.
Not a plumber. Not a handyman. My husband.
That was my mistake.
The requests started small.
A jar of pickles she couldn’t open. A smoke detector battery she couldn’t reach. A loose cabinet handle.
Then came a shelf she wanted moved eight inches to the left.
Two days later, she asked him to move it back.
Irvin was the kind of man who stopped for stranded drivers and carried groceries for elderly neighbors before they asked.
The requests started small.
He saw her requests as favors for someone adjusting to life alone.
I saw the way she watched him while he worked.
One afternoon, I was carrying a casserole into Vanessa’s kitchen when she looked at Irvin tightening a cabinet hinge and smiled.
“Look at those forearms,” she said. “Claire is the luckiest woman on the street. Though I bet she’s too busy with her flour to notice.”
I saw the way she watched him while he worked.
I ran a small bakery from our converted garage.
I had spent six years building it, one loaf, cake, and cookie order at a time.
Vanessa knew exactly how much of my life went into it.
That evening, I told Irvin she wasn’t helpless.
“She’s manufacturing reasons to get you alone,” I said. “Nobody moves the same shelf back and forth because she desperately needs help.”
I had spent six years building it
He frowned. “You think she’s flirting with me?”
“I know she is.”
He promised he’d stop going over for every little request.
I believed him because Irvin had never given me a reason not to.