Single in Suburbia by Wendy Wax Page A

Candace knew for a fact that it was time to beat a retreat, but it was beginning to occur to her that they weren’t necessarily going to be leaving with their tails between their legs as she had expected.
    “I always think it’s a shame for the only child.” Dan was still on the subject of children, a subject Candace had given up on a long time ago. “They have no one to squabble with. No character-building issues over hand-me-downs or lack of personal space. And just think of all that parental attention and adoration aimed solely at them. Imagine what that can do to a child.”
    Hannah Bloom flinched. It was a small movement, not much more than a blink, really, but Candace saw it. The unimaginable had happened. A mild-mannered, unassuming accountant had thrown himself in the path of an oncoming train and somehow managed to alter its course.
    “Well then,” Candace said much too brightly, “I’m so glad you two had the chance to get acquainted.” With Dan’s arm still around her shoulder, she leaned forward and gave her mother a peck on the cheek. “There’s someone else we need to say hello to and then we really have to be going. I have a, um, headache. And I think we should go lie down for a while.”
    Her mother gasped.
    “I mean, I’m going to go lie down. At home. By me…myself. Dan is just going to drive me there.” She finally clamped her mouth shut to halt the babbling.
    Dan just smiled his good-bye and followed along without comment. But his blue eyes twinkled merrily.

 

    chapter 6
    H ave a seat,” Anne Justiss said as she ushered Amanda into her office the next morning. “Would you like some coffee? A Danish?”
    Goosebumps shot up Amanda’s spine as she took in the attorney’s tone of voice and the look of concern on her face. The offering of food felt especially inauspicious.
    “No thanks.” She braced herself, much as her children had done the night before, barely able to wait for the attorney to walk around the desk and take her seat.
    “What’s wrong?” Amanda asked, not really wanting to know, wishing for about the thousandth time since her life had spun out of control that she could turn back the clock. This time she’d settle for right before she’d walked into this office. Right before her alarm had gone off this morning might be even safer.
    “It turns out that your husband’s financial balls are much smaller than we expected them to be.” This time there was no accompanying smile or hint of laughter. “In fact, they appear to be nonexistent.”
    Amanda’s stomach dropped somewhere around her knees. The one thing she’d been counting on was the cleansing effect of taking her husband to the cleaners, of leaving him up a creek without a financial paddle.
    “Actually, he seems to have been living beyond his means for some time.”
    Amanda was trying, but she simply could not get her brain around this. “Beyond his means? But he has a huge salary from the law firm and he’s made all kinds of investments over the years.”
    The attorney’s eyes telegraphed her regret. “Oh, he’s made investments all right—all of them ill advised. Each one of them has weakened his position even further.”
    “Are you sure?”
    “Unfortunately, yes. I put the best forensic accountant we have on it because something felt off.”
    She studied Amanda as if trying to determine whether she needed to call the paramedics. “And I’m afraid it gets worse.”
    As if anything could be worse than Rob’s lack of money at this particular point in time; money she’d been counting on to smooth the transition for the kids.
    “He’s apparently been dipping into client trust accounts to cover his personal losses.”
    Amanda stared at Anne Justiss hoping against hope that she’d misunderstood her. “But he’s an attorney. That’s illegal!”
    “It most certainly is. And it happens far more often than most people realize.” Anne Justiss looked down at the file in front of her then back up at