Page 16 of Chasing the Other Woman

If you come at her accusing her of something you don’t have proof of, it’s just going to hurt her.

Well, good job, Brooks. That seems like all you’re capable of these days. Hurting her.

“But then I heard everything go sideways,” she continues. “And yeah, I was mad before, but I told myself, God, whoever, just let him be okay. We can fix this. Whatever’s wrong with us, we can fix it.”

She swipes at her face, brushing a tear away. I step toward her and she backs up, shaking her head.

“Too late,” she says.

“It’s never too late, Sam.”

She picks something off the dresser. I can’t even figure out what she’s tossing in at this point. Everything’s going sideways and I’m helpless to stop any of it. She slams the top of the suitcase closed, zipping it. The sound is so loud, so final, that I feel like screaming.

“I walked into that clinic ready to tell you I love you, because God help me, I still do. I walked into that clinic ready to tell you that whatever it takes to fix us, let’s do it, because the world just gave you back to me and you were all I need.”

She places her hand on the suitcase looking up at me. “And then she was in your arms.”

“Sam, that’s not⁠—“

“It wasn’t enough that she was in that truck cab with you. Now she’s in your arms, her face against your chest, like she belongs there.”

“She was scared.”

“I was scared!”

Good. She’s mad. She’s angry. This I can work with.

“I was scared, Brooks! I needed to be the one you held. And I sure as hell didn’t need to hear you tell her that you wouldn’t have made it through without her.”

Tell her, you idiot. Tell her that when that truck went over, the only thing you could think of was that you were glad she wasn’t in the cab with you. Because if that storm took you out, at least it didn’t take her out with you.

“Sam.”

“What, Brooks? What are you going to say now? What can you say to make any of this better? Tell me.”

“Sam.”

“Tell me!”

“I don’t want you in that truck with me! Is that what you want to hear, Sam? I’d rather it be Luci in the truck with me! Is that what you want me to say?”

For a split second, it looks as if I’ve physically slapped Sam. My heart splits in my chest at the sight.

And then, something far worse happens. Her face changes. The hurt is gone and replacing it is something cold and foreign. Something I don’t recognize.

It scares the hell out of me.

I want the angry Sam back. I want anything back.

“Thank you, Brooks. That’s all I needed to hear.”

She picks up the suitcase, the case banging against her leg as it slides off the bed. The whole thing seems to happen in slow motion. Her walking out of the room, disappearing down the hall.

“Sam, wait…”

I follow after her, the ache in my body a far second to the ache in my chest.

She’s already reached the mudroom by the time I catch up.