Chapter 2

I stared at Lucas, waiting for him to take it back.

Blaire spoke first. She pulled Lucas’s coat tighter around herself, her voice carrying just the right amount of embarrassment.

“I can stay at a hotel. Lucas is just worried I’ll have another episode in the middle of the night.”

That was what made her so difficult to fight.

She never asked Lucas to leave me. She simply placed herself in a position no decent person could refuse, then let Lucas make every other decision for her.

“She can stay tonight,” I said. “We’ll talk in the morning.”

By the time we got home, it was after two. Lucas helped Blaire into the guest room. She pointed down the hall.

“I remember the hot water is more reliable in that bathroom.”

I looked at Lucas.

He found her clean towels and said casually, “She’s been here a few times. After parties ran late.”

I didn’t ask which parties.

I had to check in at the Horological Society by eight-thirty the next morning.

If I was more than ten minutes late, I would lose my place and have to wait for the next assessment cycle.

Starting a fight now would only cost me the few hours of sleep I had left.

At dawn, I set my tool case by the front door. Lucas woke on the couch and looked at me.

“Where are you going this early?”

“My assessment,” I reminded him. “You said you’d drive me.”

He checked his phone, and a flicker of panic crossed his face.

“Right. I forgot. Blaire woke up again last night. I sat with her for a while.”

He didn’t lie. That made it worse.

He had genuinely forgotten. While he was sitting up with another woman, I had been in the same house.

I turned to face him.

“Lucas, I understand that you care about her. That doesn’t mean I’m willing to keep coming second. Today, you remove yourself as her emergency contact. We schedule marriage counseling this week. And she doesn’t stay in our home again.”

His face tightened.

“Are you telling me to cut her out of my life?”

“I’m telling you our marriage needs boundaries. You can help people. You just can’t keep deciding things for her first and asking me to understand afterward.”

He nodded at last.

“Okay. I’ll handle it. After your assessment, we’ll book counseling.”

I picked up my tool case and headed for the door when my phone buzzed.

The Society had sent an update. A problem with the testing equipment had pushed the assessment to eight the next morning.

I handed Lucas the email.

Relief flashed across his face.

“That’s perfect,” he said. “I’ll be there tomorrow. I promise.”

From the guest room, Blaire coughed softly.

Lucas’s eyes moved past me and settled on the closed door.