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Don’t rub in what you and Andy got up to last night.
I grabbed the coffee and one hand typed a response as I walked down to the kitchen.
You think I wore that lipstick? That was all over Andy’s clothes.
I sighed, waiting for Thea to talk me down and provide some rational reason Andy came home from a business trip covered in lipstick stains. Maybe Payton ran out of tissues. Maybe he got sidelined by a group of amorous old ladies. Maybe he had a secret lipstick fetish he was scared to tell me about.
THEA
What did Andy say?
You think I should ask him? He had zero reaction to finding out I had emptied his suitcase. And look at the color!
I followed up the pictures of the shirt with Payton’s Instagram picture and waited, knuckles turning white against the kitchen counter while Thea typed a reply and deleted it.
THEA
Let me think on it.
I winced, blowing out a breath and picking up the coffee before setting it down again, too anxious to take a sip. I couldn’t make out the sound of the shower running and guessed I only had a few minutes before Andy reemerged, and I’d have to do something. Say something. But what?
I still wanted a logical explanation, but not even Thea could come up with one on the fly. It felt like rocks were in my stomach, dragging me down and filling me with dread.
I jumped as Andy appeared in the kitchen, freshly showered, with a smile on his face. “Want to split a cinnamon roll?”
He nodded toward the box of pastries on the counter.
“Sure,” I said, my stomach in knots. “Can I ask you something?”
He nodded, padding across the room and opening the pastry box, pulling out a cinnamon roll and slicing it in half.
I slid into the seat across from him, gripping a napkin and wringing it between my fingers. “So, about the love thing.”
“The love thing? Are you talking about me saying I love you?”
I smiled despite myself, my heart pitter-pattering and my body shivering at his words. “Yeah, that.”
“I meant it. Still do. I love you, Nora.”
I sighed, biting back the knee-jerk reaction to tell him I loved him too. I needed to hear the truth first. “But you’ve been with other people, right?”
He raised an eyebrow, a cinnamon roll stalled halfway to his mouth. “Um, did I do something to make you think I’d never slept with anyone before?”
“No,” I backtracked. “Of course not. I just meant after we got married. Were you sleeping with or dating someone else?”
He set his fork down on the plate, a bite of cinnamon roll still on the tines. “No. Were you?”
“No.” I shook my head. “But it would be fine if you did. I wouldn’t be mad. I just want to know.”
“Well, I didn’t.”
“Nothing? Even just a date or a kiss or something?” I pressed.
He reached across the table, his hand covering mine. “There hasn’t been anyone.”
I searched his eyes, looking for some hint that he was lying, because he had to be lying. The late-night Instagram picture, the lipstick-stained shirt. Hell, not even Thea could come up with a reasonable explanation for why those clues didn’t point directly to him, if not sleeping with Payton, at least making out with her. Wouldn’t that be just as bad?
But I didn’t think he was lying.
