The Affair

Chapter 13

Mark arrived at the restaurant where Rebecca was patiently waiting at a cozy table near the window. She looked elegant, her dark hair styled in soft waves, and she smiled warmly the moment she spotted him.

“Sorry I’m late,” Mark said smoothly as he leaned down to kiss her cheek. “Got caught up at the office.”

Rebecca tilted her head curiously as he took his seat. “Everything okay?”

Mark nodded, deciding to offer her a half-truth. “Actually, I was celebrating with Kendra. We finished the Friday workload early—for the first time in forever.” He allowed a small smile to cross his face, hoping it masked the guilt simmering beneath the surface.

Rebecca’s face lit up with delight. “Really? That’s amazing!” She reached across the table, squeezing his hand. “I was worried, you know. Kendra’s not always… easy when it comes to the men I date.”

Mark chuckled softly, leaning back in his seat, trying to hide the guilt gnawing at his gut. “Well, I feel honored. She hasn’t tried to chase me off—yet.”

Rebecca laughed, shaking her head. “Oh, trust me, that’s an accomplishment. She’s been scaring off men since she was a kid.”

Mark raised an eyebrow, genuinely curious. “What exactly did she do?”

Rebecca sighed, sipping her wine before launching into the stories.

“When she was younger—after her dad passed—it was like she made it her personal mission to keep every man away from me. I tried dating again when she was around fifteen, but she wasn’t having it.” Rebecca laughed softly at the memory. “One guy—Tom—he was a sweet man, a dentist. Kendra ‘accidentally’ left a video playing on the TV when he came over. A true crime documentary about women who killed their cheating husbands.”

Mark laughed, shaking his head. “Subtle.”

“Oh, it gets better,” Rebecca continued, eyes gleaming with amusement. “Another time, I invited a man over for dinner. Kendra decided to sit between us the entire time. Wouldn’t move. And every time he tried to compliment me, she’d correct him—like she was some kind of fact-checker.”

Mark let out a deep chuckle. “I can picture that.”

Rebecca nodded, smiling softly. “And then there was Eric. Poor guy. He was a gym teacher—super health-conscious. Kendra told him about the secret facts about organic foods and how I kept a secret stash of junk food and that I was basically addicted to cheese puffs.”

Mark laughed harder, shaking his head in disbelief. “And did you?”

“Maybe,” Rebecca admitted, grinning. “But that’s beside the point. He never called again. She made sure of that.”

Mark leaned back, trying to picture a younger Kendra going to such lengths. It wasn’t hard to imagine—he had already seen glimpses of that fire in her. But beneath the humor, there was a weight to Rebecca’s words, an unspoken truth.

“She was protecting you,” Mark said quietly.

Rebecca’s smile softened as she shook her head. “Yeah no… I think part of her was scared someone would replace her dad. She was so close to him. Losing him the way she did—it changed her.”

Mark’s chest tightened at the thought. Kendra wasn’t just some rebellious teenager acting out—she had been a girl trying to protect the memories of her father she had left.

Rebecca let out a sigh, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. “Honestly, I wasn’t sure how she’d handle me being with you. I know she acts tough, but… she’s been through a lot.”

Mark’s jaw tightened as guilt twisted inside him. If only Rebecca knew how close he had come to crossing a line.

He forced a smile, lifting his glass. “Well, so far, no cheese puffs or murder documentaries. I’m counting that as a win.”

Rebecca laughed

Mark felt his stomach tighten as he listened to Rebecca, but nothing could have prepared him for what she said next.

“You know,” she murmured, swirling the wine in her glass. “When Robert passed… it changed Kendra. And not in a good way.”

Mark tilted his head, sensing the weight behind her words. “Losing a parent at that age would change anyone. Specially to cancer.”

Rebecca hesitated, her fingers gripping the stem of her glass a little tighter. “It wasn’t the cancer that took him.” She took a deep breath before continuing. “Not fully, at least. That’s just what we told Ethan. The truth is…” She exhaled shakily. “Robert committed suicide.”

Mark’s entire body went rigid.

Rebecca swallowed hard, keeping her voice low. “He couldn’t handle the pain anymore. The treatments weren’t working, and he was suffering. Eventually, he… he shot himself. In his office. In the attic.”

Mark clenched his jaw, speechless.

“And Kendra was the one who found him.” Rebecca’s voice was barely above a whisper. “She was just thirteen years old.”

A heavy silence settled between them, thick with unspoken grief. Mark could barely process it—his mind flashing to Kendra, a kid, walking in on something no child should ever have to see.

“I tried,” Rebecca continued, her voice strained with old pain. “I tried to get her into therapy, counseling, anything to help. But she was too smart for them. She saw right through it all, refused to open up. And she still doesn’t talk about her feelings. She gets that from Robert.”

Mark slowly exhaled, rubbing his fingers along his jaw. No wonder Kendra was the way she was—guarded, sarcastic, keeping people at arm’s length.

Rebecca gave a sad smile, eyes glassy. “To this day, she won’t go anywhere near the attic.”

Mark’s mind raced, memories of Kendra flashing through his head—the way she avoided talking about the past, the way she brushed off personal questions with humor or sarcasm. She carried more pain than she let on.

And now he understood why.

Mark sat in stunned silence, his fingers tightening around his glass as he absorbed Rebecca’s words. His mind reeled, piecing together everything he knew about Kendra through this new, devastating lens. She was barely a teenager when she found her father like that. No child should have to experience that kind of horror. No wonder she had walls up.

“I had no idea,” Mark finally said, his voice quieter than he intended.

Rebecca let out a heavy sigh, pushing her hair behind her ear. “No one really does. Kendra doesn’t talk about it. Ever. And Ethan… well, he was too young to remember much. He still thinks it was just the cancer.”

Mark nodded slowly. It made sense. Protecting Ethan from that kind of trauma was the right thing to do. But who had protected Kendra?

“I tried so hard to help her,” Rebecca continued, her voice thick with guilt. “But she just… shut down. She changed overnight. She stopped letting people in. She started pushing everyone away—including me.”

Mark thought about the way Kendra carried herself—so independent, so defiant, yet underneath it all, there was something guarded. He’d noticed it before, but now he understood why.

“I don’t think she ever really recovered,” Rebecca admitted. “And I don’t know if she ever will.”

Mark swallowed hard, his mind flashing back to just earlier that night, to the way Kendra whispered I’m used to being alone. He hadn’t realized how deeply that statement ran.

Rebecca sighed, shaking her head. “Anyway, I don’t mean to dump all this on you. I just… I know you’re spending a lot of time with her at work, and I figured you should know.” She gave him a weary smile. “Maybe she’ll open up to you in a way she never could with me.”

Mark forced a small nod, but his chest felt heavy. The idea that Kendra had been carrying this pain alone for so long made something deep inside him ache.

He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do with this information.