Perfect Wife, Perfect Life

Audrey smiled into the camera, her perfectly quaffed hair and designer outfit accentuating her bubbly personality, as she pushed  aesthetically pleasing platter of cookies toward the camera. “Today, I asked my husband what he wanted to eat,” her soft voiceover crooned. “He said he didn’t care what was for dinner, but he really wanted some chocolate chip cookies. So I set to work creating soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies from scratch.” 

The next shot was Audrey spreading cacao beans on a parchment lined sheet pan. “I put some cacao beans into the oven at 250 degrees to roast while I gathered the rest of my ingredients…”

Olivia used her index finger to scroll to the next video. In that video Audrey is pictured in all her idealistic glory, with perfectly styled designer clothes and full makeup cracking eggs into a mixer, “I asked Rocky what he wanted to eat…” 

Olivia scrolled again and yet another video of the seemingly perfect Audrey appears on her phone screen. She scrolled through 20 other videos so rapidly that all she glimpsed was more designer clothes and perfect makeup in her million dollar kitchen. 

Olivia laid her phone down on the table in front of her, making eye contact with her sister who sat quietly across from her, hands pressed together on the table. “That is Daisy.” 

Her sister nods. 

“Daisy is an influencer now? How did we not know that?” Olivia tilts her head and furrows her brow. “What is with her accent? She sounds like she is from London, England, not London, Kentucky. And why she dressed like a housewife from the 50s and doing things the hardest possible way she could do them?”

“Well,” Grace said, “it’s not like we hang out on Trad wife FaceTok.” Olivia nods. Grace leans in. “She blew up overnight. Seems so perfect, right?”

“Seems like she got the life she always wanted. She said she would be famous someday. How did you find out?”

“It’s all over the news. Everyone’s talking about it. I am shocked you didn’t already know.” Grace pulled her mug to her lips and sipped at her black coffee.

“I don’t know how you drink your coffee like that. Yuck! If it ain’t got as much cream and sugar as it does coffee, I don’t want it.” Olivia paused, “I told you I am doing a digital detox. I haven’t touched an electronic in days. I have been just reading and cooking and hiking…”

“That is why you didn’t text back? I must have texted you a thousand times last night. I was surprised to see you made it to breakfast. I was beginning to think you were dead in a ditch.”

“Calm down. You are acting like Mom. I told you I am doing a digital detox. And this isn’t even a big deal. So what if my middle school bestie got famous? That don’t pay my bills.” 

“It is more than that, Liv. I started with that to soften the blow,” Grace again sipped her black coffee and let out a huge sigh. “She was arrested. That is how I found out any of this. Ty texted me at midnight to tell me. Wasn’t long before our entire group of friends had a text chain going. I added you. I am guessing you didn’t bother to check your messages.”

“Digital detox, remember? Why on earth would Daisy be arrested? She was the sweetest person I ever knew before she moved and we slowly fell out of touch.” 

A waitress approached, offering a refill. Olivia slid her glass across the table before saying, “Diet coke with a lemon twist. Thank you!” She smiled sweetly at their waitress, who tipped coffee into Grace’s mug before retrieving the glass and returning Olivia’s smile. 

“That’s the thing, Liv. You can never really know someone. She was arrested for murdering three men.” Grace said quietly, leaning in to make herself more audible to Olivia.

Olivia’s eyes went wide. “What?!”

Grace shushed her sister. “You are being too loud. Anyway, apparently several men had been disappearing from Seattle—that is where she lives. There were no similarities in race or body type. Police struggled to find a connection between them. The only thing that they all had in common was they all were married.”

Olivia absently dipped a hash brown into maple syrup. The hash brown hovered in the air while she gestured wildly. Speaking loudly through gritted teeth. “How do you know that?”

“Shhh. You never did know how to whisper,” Grace admonished. “Well, anyway, her fourth intended victim got away after she stabbed him in his own home. She drugged him and then stabbed him. He somehow knocked her down and stumbled into the street, where his neighbor found him.” 

Olivia sat in rapt attention, eyes wide and just slowly nodded, taking it all in. “The guy is in a coma. No idea if he is going to live.”

The waitress returned, carrying Olivia’s drink and said, “I hate to barge in on your conversation, honey, but are you talking about that Daisy girl?” Olivia smiled and nodded politely. “It’s a real shame. She seemed like such a sweetheart. I am praying for her. Bless her heart.” The waitress gave a faint smile before wandering away.

“Bless her heart, indeed,” Olivia said, shoveling another maple syrup dripped hash brown into her mouth. 

“Anyway, there is going to be a press conference at noon pacific time, but I think her husband-he is also an influencer-beat the police to it. Seems like he is trying to get ahead of the story by posting on FaceTok.” Grace pulled her phone out of her bag, opened it and tapped the screen.

A video began to play. A well-dressed but slightly disheveled man with dark brown hair and  the bluest eyes Olivia had ever seen flickered to life,  “I never dreamed I would be making this video,” he paused dramatically. “But as you may know, my wife, Audrey, has been arrested. I will be telling you what I know and then I ask that you please give me privacy while I grieve.” 

He appeared to be choking up. “Earlier this evening, a man, who I do not know, stumbled into the street, bleeding from the chest. Neighbors found him and caught my wife as she was exiting the home, wearing a hooded cloak and a red wig. She was arrested. I went to see her in jail and she confessed to me that she had killed three other men. She said she had found out about an affair I was having months ago. I very much regret my actions.”  

Rocky gulped, “I am a weak man. I never should have done that.” A tear dropped onto his cheek. “I will never forgive myself for that… Sadly, it was this event that was the catalyst for my wife’s.. break from reality. She began to target married men who cheat on their wives. Because of my actions, these men are dead. I can never make up for that. I am sorry. I am so sorry.” The video ended as he began to sob uncontrollably. 

“Why would he do that to his own wife?” Olivia said.

“Maybe he is trying to his own career? They both must make a lot of money as influencers to live that kind of lifestyle.” Grace sipped at her coffee. 

“That actually kind of makes sense,” Olivia gasped. “You remember her daddy died falling down the stairs shortly after that rumor about him and that nurse… you don’t think…?”

The sisters fell silent and sat that way for several minutes before Grace said, “Yeah, I do.”