Chapter 7
His eyes lifted.
“That’s a plan.”
He flinched.
Good.
I wanted him to.
Not because I wanted to hurt him.
Because I needed him to understand that I could still recognize reality.
I wasn’t going to let him soften what he had done into something accidental.
Lucas pushed his plate away.
“I was going to tell you.”
“When?”
He said nothing.
“Tomorrow?”
Silence.
“Next week?”
Nothing.
“After I died?”
“Come on.”
“No. You come on.”
My voice rose for the first time.
“You wrote Warren has us redoing half the numbers while sitting God knows where. You used a real person to make the lie believable.”
“I panicked.”
“You had been lying for twelve hours before that.”
“I know.”
“So stop saying you panicked.”
He looked broken then.
I noticed it and hated myself for noticing.
His shoulders had dropped.
His face had gone pale.
For twelve years, those signs would have made me move toward him.
That night they made me suspicious.
I sat opposite him.
“One more time.”
Lucas stared at me.
“Where were you?”
His lips pressed together.
When he finally answered, his voice was almost a whisper.
“With someone.”
I did not move.
The kitchen became very small.
“With who?”
Lucas looked away.
I heard myself say, “Is it a woman?”
He closed his eyes.
That was the answer.
My stomach dropped.
For several seconds neither of us spoke.
Then I asked, “Who?”
“Rachel.”
The name meant nothing to me.
Which somehow made it worse.
“Rachel who?”
“Rachel Meyer.”
I searched my memory.
Nothing.
“How do you know her?”
“She worked with us years ago.”
“At your company?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Before Daniel became department head.”
“And you’ve stayed in touch.”
It wasn’t a question.
Lucas rubbed his palms together.
“Not exactly.”
“What does that mean?”
“We reconnected.”
“When?”
He hesitated.
I leaned forward.
“When?”
“Three months ago.”
Three months.
I repeated the words silently.
Three months included our anniversary.
Three months included the weekend we spent at the lake.
Three months included nights when Lucas lay beside me scrolling through his phone while I read a book inches away.
“Reconnected how?”
“She sent me a message.”
“And then?”
“I answered.”
“And then?”
“We talked.”
“How often?”
His silence became unbearable.
“Every day?”
“Not every day.”
“Most days?”
He looked down.
I knew.
I wrapped my arms around myself.
“What happened today?”
“She was in town.”
“For one day?”