The Neighbor [The Complete Collection] by Abby Weeks

to shake and she shook it.
    —It’s been an absolute delight to meet you in person, Janey.
    —Likewise, she said and wheeled her cart off toward the checkout.

IV
    W HEN JANEY GOT HOME SHE threw the groceries on the kitchen counter and left the movies on the coffee table by the TV. Then she went to the office and looked up Henry Walden. She was shocked at what she learned. She never would have guessed any of it from the unassuming man she’d met at the grocery store. His wiki page led her to his company website and there was a detailed bio there.
    He was a doctor, a famous doctor. He’d been married in his thirties and when he and his wife had their first child they’d learned that his wife carried a rare genetic disorder. Henry then spent the next thirty years researching the disorder at Weill Cornell. He started a company and built a dedicated research institute at the Cornell campus in Ithaca. He’d been obsessed, his company filed a number of groundbreaking patents, and after decades of hard work he succeeded. His company finally developed an effective treatment for the disorder that was today saving lives all over the world. But unfortunately for Henry, his wife and daughter had long since succumbed to the disease. It was a tragic story but a quick look at his company’s stock price told her that it hadn’t been entirely futile, at least not financially. Henry had netted millions by the time he retired a few year ago. It seemed he’d since been involving himself in charitable work, serving on the board of some local hospitals, and establishing a foundation to provide research grants to medical start-ups. He was quite a man. There were photos of him on the internet shaking hands with the president. He’d also spent time with some pretty impressive celebrities who were personally touched by the disease he’d cured or who had taken on the cause as one of their charitable projects. One picture showed him at a ceremony, in a tuxedo, with Brad Pitt and George Clooney. Janey printed it out and took it with her to the living room. She wanted to look at it while she ate her ice cream and watched her romances.
    She fell asleep during the second of the two movies and when she woke up the DVD menu screen was repeating the same snippet of music over and over. She looked at the table, covered with containers of melted ice cream and a half-empty bowl of butter popcorn. She regretted being so glutinous. She’d have to find out about that gym soon before she put on weight. A few extra pounds was the last thing she needed while she was feeling so insecure in her marriage. She shut off the TV and gathered up the mess on the table and brought it into the kitchen. She saw the green digital display on her oven and was shocked that it was after three AM. Where the hell was Ben?
    She rushed upstairs to see if for some reason he’d gone to bed without waking her but the bedroom was empty. She picked up the phone and dialed his office number. There was no answer. She waited and waited as it rang and she pictured the empty office with the lone phone ringing. No one was there. With a sick feeling in her stomach she wondered if she should call his cell. She knew he’d hate her for doing it. He’d say he’d been with clients and didn’t like interruptions, but she was his wife and it was three in the morning so she was within her rights to
interrupt
anything. What stopped her from dialing the number was the fear that she might catch him with Suzy. She knew about the affair but she didn’t want Ben to know she knew. Not that there could be much doubt, it was three in the morning and he still wasn’t home, but she wasn’t ready to face him on it. She wasn’t ready to have the fight that it would lead to. And she wasn’t ready to make the admissions to herself about her own life that the fight would force. She put down the phone.
    She switched on the bedside lamp and sat on the side of the bed and thought. She thought that Ben was