Chapter 2

After Daniel said yes, no one at the head table pretended to read the menu anymore.

“Hannah, I can explain.” He reached for the place card.

I slipped it into my purse before he could take it. “You had the entire evening to explain. You chose to send me to a table beside the kitchen instead.”

“Elise became upset when she saw the seating arrangement.” Daniel softened his voice, the way he did when speaking to a difficult student. “I thought you would understand.”

“You thought I wouldn’t expose you in front of everyone.”

His jaw tightened.

Ruth told us not to continue this in front of the guests.

She reminded me how much work had gone into the dinner and said everyone had come to celebrate.

I looked at the white roses on the table.

I had ordered them. I had chosen the menu and mailed all forty invitations myself.

“You can keep celebrating.” I picked up my coat. “There’s nothing here for me to celebrate.”

Elise followed me into the hallway.

“I didn’t ask him to throw you out of your seat.” She wiped away her tears, and her voice became steady again. “I only asked him what tonight was supposed to mean.”

“And what did he say?”

“He promised to make everything honest.”

I stopped walking. “When did he promise you that?”

Elise didn’t answer right away.

That was when I remembered the previous Christmas Eve.

I had spent the entire day preparing dinner.

The roast had just reached the table when Daniel received a message from Elise.

She said the house was too quiet and that she couldn’t face her first Christmas without Peter.

Daniel packed up the roast, the potatoes, and the apple pie I had baked.

“She needs this meal more than we do tonight,” he had said. “You understand, don’t you?”

I cleared the table alone.

He came home after midnight carrying empty containers.

He kissed my forehead and thanked me for always being so understanding.

At the time, I believed I was helping a woman who had lost her husband.

Now that same woman stood in front of me wearing the dress I had helped her choose.

She had taken my seat and was telling me Daniel had promised her an answer long before our anniversary dinner began.

“How long?” I asked.

“If you’re asking how long he’s loved me, I don’t know.” Elise lifted her chin. “But tonight wasn’t spontaneous. He said he couldn’t keep pretending.”

“Pretending to whom? Me or you?”

Her lips parted, but she didn’t answer.

I headed toward the elevator. Just before the doors closed, Elise called after me.

“He knew you’d be angry, but he also knew you would forgive him eventually. You always do.”

The doors shut between us.

Daniel caught up with me in the parking lot as I reached my car.

He had come outside without his coat, and his tie hung crooked around his neck.

“Don’t leave like this. At least let me drive you home.”

“I don’t want to sit in the same car with you.”

“I admit I handled tonight badly.” He stepped in front of the driver’s door. “But I never said I wanted our marriage to end. I need time to understand what I feel for Elise.”

I gripped the door handle and refused to finish the thought for him.

Daniel looked at me, and somehow there was a plea in his voice.

“Until I figure it out, can we keep living together the way we always have?”