Marriage Under Suspicion

After five years of marriage, Kate Lassiter returns home from a business trip to find an anonymous letter waiting for. It simply reads, "Your husband is in love with another woman." Shocked, Kate finds an empty bottle of champagne with two glasses; apparently her husband, Ryan, has been celebrating with someone in her absence. Later, she overhears him talking on a phone assuring someone he addresses as "sweetheart" that his wife doesn't know anything yet, and that everything will be all right. He tells Kate that he is meeting his editor for lunch, but lies about the restaurant they are going to, and doesn't bother to correct her misconception that his editor is a man (when in fact he has a new editor who happens to be a sexy young woman). And so it continues...

This was really, really stupid. I mean, really, really, REALLY stupid. It started off all right, with Kate trying to find out the truth. She keeps reaching out to her husband, who in turn keeps rejecting her and lying to her. Everything points towards him having an affair with her best friend, but of course the reader knows it will all turn out to be a BIG MISUNDERSTANDING and Kate and Ryan will live happily ever after. Well, it turns out that the mysterious letter was actually written by Ryan. Apparently he was worried about the state of their marriage, so naturally instead of trying to talk to his wife, he decided that making her think he was cheating on her was the smart thing to do. He keeps rejecting her because, well, he's obviously an idiot. Apparently he decided a time of celibacy would be good for them to work out their differences. Sure, if both parties know what's going on and actually communicate. How refusing to spend any time with his wife was going to save their marriage, I have no idea. Finally he succumbs to his lust and they spend a passionate night together. Ryan is worried that he and Kate only seem to connect on a physical level, so instead of trying to talk to her (gee, you think the reason you don't connect outside of bed is because you refuse to talk to her?) he mocks her for making herself so sexually available to him, and tells her that the sex didn't mean anything. Finally, he goes off on a business trip, turning down Kate when she offers to go with him. She calls his hotel after he leaves, only to discover that he is not due there for another day, and that he has booked into a suite for himself and his "wife". It all finally comes to a head when Kate goes there in a rage, ready to confront her lying, cheating husband and his woman. No other woman can be found, and the truth comes out. For some reason Kate is perfectly happy with all of Ryan's excuses. The champagne in their apartment is never explained, by the way. Personally, I don't see much hope for their future. For all Kate knows, Ryan could very well have been cheating on her all along. She is just so relieved when he claims to love her, that she swallows all his excuses. I find it hard to stomach that after five years of marriage, Ryan's method of conflict resolution is lying to, rejecting, and hurting his wife, rather than open and honest communication. I wouldn't want to stay with a man like this. At the very least, Kate and Ryan should probably get some marriage counselling.