Free My Father's Wives by Mike Greenberg

that is first to know precisely what the circumstances are. So, that is where we will begin. We must find out for certain that which you strongly suspect. Does that sound agreeable to you?”
    “It does.”
    “That should not be complicated,” Cranston said. “Do you have photos of your wife on your phone?”
    “Not . . . interesting ones.”
    Cranston smiled. “I wouldn’t expect that,” he said. “I just mean regular pictures. It will make it easier for me to do this job if I know what she looks like.”
    I felt color rushing to my cheeks.
    “You needn’t be embarrassed,” Cranston said. “I know what you’regoing through. You’re thinking you are a successful, grounded family man. You have perfect credit, no police record, you’ve never been involved in anything like this in your life. Now you’re sitting in the office of a stranger, asking him to shadow your wife. It is crucial for you that I know this isn’t how you view yourself. And what I’m saying to you is that I understand. So, if you have any pictures let me see them and we’ll get on with this.”
    I took another sip of the vodka and took my phone out of my breast pocket. “I don’t have any,” I said, “except this one.” I showed him the screensaver, the four of us in face paint at Disney World.
    “Nice family,” he said sincerely. “If you provide me with your address and a few other details I can make do without the photo.”
    I looked up at the ceiling. There was a fan oscillating slowly, not enough to create any noticeable breeze. That was how I felt, like I didn’t have enough energy to create a breeze.
    “Phase one of this investigation should not take long,” Cranston said. “You will soon receive an e-mail from ‘Cranston and Associates.’ It will be addressed to your first and last name, as are most solicitations. It will describe a series of insurance options that my firm would be happy to go over with you anytime at your convenience. When you receive the e-mail you will hit reply and type in a single digit, to correspond to the hour of the afternoon you wish to come here and retrieve the information. Do not bother typing P or P . M .; we have established now that the time will be P . M . So if you type a three, we will meet at three P . M . One digit only, because that is most easily explained as an accidental slip. I will meet you here on the day you send the reply at the hour you have indicated. Does all of this make sense to you?”
    I nodded.
    “Okay. You will hear from me shortly. In the interim, do not tell anyone of our meeting, do not look for me or try to contact me in any way.”
    “What if I want to call it off?”
    Cranston looked at me sternly. “Then tell me that right now.”
    Of course I wanted to call it off. But I needed to know.
    “Mr. Sweetwater, take all the time you need. If you want to call this off just say the word and you will never hear my name again. But if you walk out of this office with our arrangement in place, be aware that you are setting in motion a series of events you will not be able to fully control. There are certain sights in life that, once they have been seen, can never be unseen. Do you understand what I mean?”
    “I think so,” I said.
    “I mean that once you know something you can do with it anything you wish, but you can never unknow it. And sometimes the things we do not know are better for us than those that we do.”
    “I understand,” I said.
    Though I didn’t, really.
    BRUCE AND I PLAYED basketball late in the afternoon. “My calf is seventy percent,” he told me, “which is enough to kick one hundred percent of your ass.”
    As we headed to the gym I sent a note to Claire. Bruce and I headed into the room now . The words were truthful, even if they weren’t honest. But what did it matter? I had already lied to her in the morning; that is the sort of thing that matters a lot less the second time.
    I don’t know that I’ve ever played worse than I