Her face tightened.
“I made a mistake.”
“You forged mine too.”
She froze.
Helen gasped behind me.
Michael continued.
“The lender sent the application.”
Lauren looked toward me.
“This is exactly why I didn’t want your father involved.”
“I found it.”
Michael pointed toward himself.
“I called them.”
Lauren’s eyes filled.
“I was desperate.”
“For what?”
“My business.”
“You didn’t have a business.”
“I was trying.”
“With one hundred and twenty thousand dollars?”
“I thought I could repay everything.”
“With what income?”
Lauren looked away.
Michael stepped closer.
“Where did the money go?”
She said nothing.
“Lauren.”
Her shoulders lowered.
“Advertising.”
“How much?”
“Some.”
“Where else?”
“Equipment.”
“What equipment?”
“Computers.”
“We own two computers.”
“They were for contractors.”
“What contractors?”
She could not answer.
Michael’s expression hardened.
“Where did the money go?”
Lauren suddenly began crying.
Helen reached instinctively toward the door.
I gently stopped her.
This was Michael’s conversation.
Lauren covered her face.
“I lost some of it.”
Michael went still.
“How?”
She said nothing.
“How?”
“Investments.”
“What investments?”
“Online trading.”
I saw Michael’s face change.
“How much?”
Lauren shook her head.
“How much?”
“Forty thousand.”
Michael stepped backward.
“You lost forty thousand dollars trading?”
“It wasn’t supposed to happen.”
“That sentence describes every loss.”
“I was trying to recover it.”
“With more borrowed money?”
She nodded.
Michael looked physically sick.
“How much did you lose afterward?”
Lauren whispered.
“Another thirty.”
Seventy thousand dollars.
Helen sank into a chair behind the window.
Michael stared at his wife.
“So the consulting company was a cover?”
“No.”
“Was there ever a real client?”
Lauren remained silent.
“Was there?”
“One.”
“Did they pay you?”
“No.”
Michael laughed bitterly.
“So no.”
Lauren wiped her face.
“I knew you would react like this.”
He stared at her.
“Like what?”
“Like I was irresponsible.”
“You risked our house.”
“I was trying to fix it before you found out.”
Michael’s voice dropped.
“That is the definition of irresponsible.”
Lauren shook her head.
“You don’t understand the pressure I was under.”
“What pressure?”
“Watching everyone else succeed.”
Michael looked stunned.
“Who?”
“My friends.”
He waited.
“People online.”
Michael closed his eyes.
Lauren continued rapidly.
“Everybody had businesses, vacations, renovations, investments, and I felt like we were standing still.”
Michael stared at her.
“We had a house.”
“I know.”
“We had savings.”
“I know.”
“We had no consumer debt.”
She looked down.
“We had a daughter who thought we were happy.”
Lauren began crying again.
Michael’s own eyes filled.
“What exactly were we missing?”
She whispered.
“Something that was mine.”
He softened for one second.
“You could have built something.”
Her eyes lifted.
“I tried.”
“You could have built something slowly.”
She said nothing.
“You could have told me.”
“I thought you’d say no.”
“That mattered more than my consent?”
Lauren looked away.
Michael understood the answer.
Then she pointed toward our house.
“And your parents would have judged me.”
Helen opened the front door.
Lauren looked startled.
Helen stepped outside.
“I would have worried about you.”
Lauren’s jaw tightened.
“That is judgment.”
“No.”
Helen stopped beside Michael.
“Concern is not condemnation.”
“You never wanted me to succeed.”
Helen stared.
“I paid for the certification course you abandoned four years ago.”
Lauren blinked.
Michael turned toward her.
“Mom paid for that?”
Lauren said nothing.
Helen continued.
“You told Michael your employer reimbursed it.”
Michael looked devastated.
“That was three thousand dollars.”
Helen nodded.
Lauren wiped her cheeks.
“I intended to repay her.”
“I told you it was a gift.”
Michael stared at Helen.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because Lauren asked me not to.”
Michael looked at his wife.
Lauren snapped.
“I was embarrassed.”
Helen nodded.
“I respected that.”
Lauren’s anger faltered.
Helen continued.
“I kept your confidence even after you started telling Michael that I wanted you to fail.”
Lauren looked down.
Helen’s voice softened.
“I do not understand why you needed me to become your enemy.”
Lauren cried silently.
For the first time, the anger seemed to leave her completely.
“I needed him on my side.”
Michael stared.
“I was already on your side.”
“You always listened to them.”
“They are my parents.”
“That’s what I mean.”
Michael looked confused.
Lauren wiped her face.
“When your mother said something, you trusted her.”
“Because she usually told the truth.”
Lauren flinched.
“When your father gave advice, you listened.”
“Because I respect him.”
“And where did that leave me?”
“Beside me.”
Lauren shook her head.
“No.”
“I never asked you to compete.”
“But I felt like I was.”
Helen’s expression became sad.
“With me?”
Lauren nodded.
The answer seemed absurd, yet painfully sincere.
Helen spoke slowly.
“I never wanted your place.”
Lauren looked at her.
“You already had it.”
“What place?”
“The person Michael trusted most.”
Michael stared.
Lauren continued.
“I wanted to be first.”
Helen’s eyes filled.
“You were his wife.”
“It never felt enough.”
Michael’s voice broke.
“So you isolated me from them?”
Lauren looked at him.
“I wanted our own family.”
“We had one.”
“No.”
“We did.”
His voice rose.
“You, me, Emma, Mom, Dad, people who loved us.”
Lauren shook her head.
“That isn’t what I wanted.”
Michael’s anger vanished.
Sadness replaced it.
“I know.”
They looked at each other for a long time.
Then Michael spoke quietly.
“I cannot stay married like this.”
Lauren’s face collapsed.
“Michael.”
“I didn’t say what happens forever.”
She grabbed his arm.
“Please.”
He gently removed her hand.
“I said I cannot continue like this.”
“We can fix it.”
“Maybe.”
She began crying harder.
“But fixing it starts with truth.”
“I’m telling you now.”
“Because I found out.”
Lauren looked down.
Michael continued.
“I need every password.”
She nodded.
“Every account.”
Another nod.
“Every loan.”
“Yes.”
“Every dollar.”
She covered her face again.
“And counseling.”
She looked up.
“Together?”
“Eventually.”
Her hope flickered.
“But I’m starting alone.”
It faded again.
“I need to understand why I accepted things that should have made me ask questions.”
Lauren whispered.
“What about me?”
“You need help too.”
She nodded weakly.
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