“I told you I want to deal with your shit. I love your shit. It smells like—”
“Nikhil, be serious!”
“I am being serious! Look, you’re not the only one bringing baggage to this relationship—I may not be physically leaning on you in the same way, but there is no way I would have gotten through the last month without you. Youwantto support me, right?”
She did. She wanted him to be healthy and happy, and she would do anything she could to make his dreams come true. “Of course.”
“So we keep doing that. Supporting each other. I’m not here out of obligation any more than you are.”
Marley wasn’t so sure. She was, of course, relieved that the horror stories Mom had told her this morning weren’t happening to her, but at the same time, this little scare felt like a test to her. Or an omen.
Could this relationshipreallyweather the enormous storms that could come for them?
When they got home, Nikhil helped her in the house and back into the recliner. “Do you want food?” he asked. “There’s some pasta left from yesterday.”
Marley nodded. She didn’t have much of an appetite, but she figured she might as well eat something.
They ate quietly, neither of them saying much. Marley didn’t know if he was distracted because of her health or his issues at the rehearsals. After the pasta, Marley sat back in her recliner and put on a nail-art video. Nikhil brewed her some ginger tea (he was getting better at it—he rarely had boilovers now), and they watched YouTube together.
When they went to bed that night, Marley still felt out of sorts. The pain had eased since she’d taken the good painkillers. But all she could think about was what would have happened if Nikhil hadn’t been able to come help her today.
Marley was an independent person who’d never in her life wanted to commit to someone. But now she wanted to be with Nikhil. To watch bad reality shows with him, order pizza, and watch him cook. She wanted to sit on the sofa for hours with him and the cat and just… exist together. But she also wanted to go to restaurants, take him shopping, and travel with him. She hadn’t felt like this for another person in a long time. Actually, ever.
But right now, she wondered if her love was enough to weather a complicated relationship like this one. When the next crisis hit, they’d both realize that nothing could be as simple as it should be with the two of them.
Marley found Nikhil’s hand under the covers. He turned and wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her long and slow. Eventually they lay side by side, holding hands, and Marley tried to knock the unease out of her mind. But all she could think about was that woman with the honey hair staring at Nikhil in the doctor’s office.
Marley woke to the sound of her bedroom door opening. It was Shayne, and he looked furious. Even though they’d lived together for a while, he never barged into Marley’s room without knocking.
“Shayne… what’s wrong?” she said, trying to get up. She cringed as she felt a sharp pain on her incision.
Shayne shook his head. “Why are you still sleeping? I thought you and Nikhil would be in crisis mode!”
Marley frowned and checked the time. It was ten thirty a.m. “Crisis mode? Why? I told you yesterday—the doctor said I was fine.”
Shayne sat on Marley’s bed. “Marl, I’m not talking about your doctor’s appointment. I’m talking about the security breach on Nik Sharma that happened literally, like, twenty minutes ago.”
“What breach?”
“I just sent you a post,” he said, pointing to her phone.
Heart pounding, Marley picked up her phone from the nightstand and found the social media post in a text from Shayne. It was from one of those less-respected celebrity gossip sites. But… their gossip was usually true.
The post had several pictures, clearly taken yesterday at Dr. Abernathy’s office: Marley and Nikhil talking in the waiting room, Marley and Nikhil staring into each other’s eyes. Nikhil kissing Marley.
“Oh my god,” she said. She felt sick. Someone took a picture of them inside her doctor’s office? Clearly it was that woman staring at him. Marley hated people right now. The text under the post said,
Hot dirt on the Ironis movie franchise’s newest It Boy—check the link in our bio for all the juicy details.
Marley wanted to throw up. She needed to tell Nikhil about this.
“Open the article,” Shayne said.
She reluctantly opened the link, which took her to a full article on the gossip page.
“The Bronze Shadow’s Secret Love Nest” was the headline. And the article went into a lot of detail about Nik Sharma’s torrid affair with his wardrobe stylist. There were more pictures, including some taken on the porch of Marley’s house when he picked her up yesterday. And other pictures of Nikhil coming and going from the house.
“I saw that black Tesla parked on the street so many times,” Shayne said. “I thought Mrs. Costello across the street was having an affair, but now I think it was a photographer.”
