Chapter 2

Daniel’s message to Sophie stayed on the tablet all night. At 7:06 the next morning, my husband came home wearing my best friend’s perfume.

It was 7:06 a.m.

Sleep had never come.

When the front door opened, I was sitting at the kitchen table.

The tablet was back on the couch.

Lily’s adoption notice was hidden inside my desk.

Daniel entered with his suitcase.

He had changed his shirt, but he still wore the jacket he had taken on his "business trip."

He bent down and kissed my forehead.

That was when I smelled it.

Gardenia.

I had bought that perfume for Sophie on her birthday.

She had told me it was too expensive. I had told her she deserved something good after her divorce.

Now its scent was on my husband.

"I’m sorry," he said. "The flight was a nightmare."

"You couldn’t control the flight."

The lie came out of my mouth smoothly.

He smiled as if my answer had relieved him.

Daniel opened his suitcase and removed a black box.

"I saw this and thought of you."

Inside was a gold necklace with a small diamond.

For one second, I remembered the man who used to plan my gifts weeks in advance.

Then I saw the name of the jewelry store.

I had seen it in his purchase history.

Daniel went upstairs to shower.

I opened his tablet.

The receipt took less than a minute to find.

Three months earlier, he had ordered the same necklace for Sophie.

Same design.

Same gold chain.

Same diamond shape.

I compared the product numbers.

They were not exactly the same.

Sophie’s diamond was larger.

Her necklace had cost almost twice as much.

I looked at the box Daniel had given me.

He had not walked into a store and chosen something for our anniversary.

He had opened an old order and bought a cheaper copy.

Maybe he believed Sophie and I would never compare them.

Maybe he had stopped seeing us as two different people.

We were two women waiting in two houses.

He only needed the right gift and the right lie for each of us.

I saved both receipts.

Then I returned my necklace to its box.

Daniel came downstairs dressed for work.

His phone lit up on the counter.

He reached for it, but I had already seen the message preview.

It was from Sophie.

Noah cried after you left. He keeps asking when Daddy is coming back.

Daniel turned the phone facedown.

A second later, it began to ring.

He picked it up and walked straight to the balcony.

The glass door closed behind him.

Daniel stood with his back to me, one hand pressed over his other ear.

His head lowered as he listened.

I watched him through the glass.

He had missed our anniversary.

He had lied about being trapped out of state.

But the moment Sophie called about Noah, he answered.

Daniel stayed on the balcony for less than two minutes.

When he returned, he had already removed every sign of concern from his face.

He slid the phone into his pocket.

"Sophie has a problem with the pipes at the lake house," he said. "She asked me for a plumber’s number."

He did not know I had read the message.

He did not know I had seen the word Daddy.

He still believed each lie could cover one small piece of the truth.

But I had already found the clinic bill from 846 days ago.

I had seen the diapers, formula, and children’s medicine.

I had read Daniel’s own words.

Tell my son Daddy will be home soon.

He picked up his keys.

"I need to go to the office."

I said nothing.

He kissed my forehead again.

When the smart lock confirmed the door was closed, I opened the location app on my phone.

Daniel’s car appeared as a blue dot.

At first, it followed the road toward his company.

Then it passed the final turn.

I watched it join the highway I knew better than any other road.

My mother used to drive me along it every summer.

It led to the lake house.

Daniel had lied about the airport.

Now he was lying about the office.

I took my keys and followed him.