Chapter 5

I hadn't expected the same thing to happen again so soon.

That afternoon, I finished up at the gallery early. Julian had said he'd be home by six thirty, and it had been a while since we'd had a quiet dinner together, so I asked the kitchen to prepare a few of his favorites.

At six twenty, a message came through.

I'm going to be late. Something happened with Lianne. I need to go over there.

A few minutes later, another followed.

It's a complicated situation. I'll explain when I get home.

I stared at the word complicated and didn't reply.

By seven thirty, dinner had gone cold. I had the table cleared and went upstairs alone.

Julian came home close to ten.

I was sitting on the edge of the bed, reviewing exhibition materials, when he walked into the bedroom. He took off his suit jacket and came over to me.

"You didn't answer my messages."

"I saw them."

He paused.

"One of Lianne's overseas investment accounts was flagged for a compliance review because of a cross-border transaction. The funds were temporarily frozen. She had a large payment due tonight, and if it wasn't handled properly, she could've been in breach and potentially faced personal liability."

I looked up at him.

"So you went to her?"

"She just got back to New York. She doesn't know the right people here to deal with something like this."

Julian's voice remained calm.

"I connected her with the right people and helped stabilize the situation."

It wasn't a trivial problem.

A few weeks ago, I probably would have understood his decision. I might even have told myself that someone in that kind of trouble reaching out to a person she once trusted didn't necessarily mean anything.

But things were different now.

"We talked about this."

"I know."

Julian didn't avoid my gaze.

"But tonight really was an exceptional situation. I didn't think refusing to help her would've been the right thing to do."

There it was.

He hadn't forgotten.

He remembered every word I'd said. He had simply weighed my concerns against Lianne's situation and decided he should go anyway.

"Is she all right now?"

"For the moment."

"Okay."

I lowered my eyes to the papers again.

Julian stayed where he was.

"You don't want to know what else happened?"

"No."

His brow tightened slightly.

Every other time Lianne came up, I had tried to explain myself. I had told him why their history meant there needed to be firmer boundaries between them, and why giving her emotional priority could damage our marriage even if nothing physical ever happened.

But I'd already said all of that.

Julian sat down beside me.

"Iris, I know this bothers you, but I haven't done anything that violates our marriage."

"I know."

"Then we don't need to turn this into something bigger than it is."

"I'm not trying to."

For the first time, genuine confusion crossed his face.

"Iris, you're angry."

I closed the file.

"What do you want me to say?"

"At least tell me what you're thinking."

"I already have."

He went quiet.

"I told you where my boundary was. I explained why it mattered. You heard me. You remembered."

I met his eyes.

"And tonight you still went because you decided her situation justified making an exception."

"She needed help."

"So you made a choice."

Julian frowned.

"This isn't an either-or situation."

"Not to you."

He was silent for a few seconds.

"Iris, I didn't betray our marriage."

I looked at him.

"If you mean the line written into our agreement, I know."

He stopped.

"But I already told you that this was never just about whether you technically violated a clause in a contract."

Julian reached for me.

I stood before his hand could touch me.

"Iris, we can make the boundaries more specific. If you want me to."

"No."

"What?"

"I'm not explaining it a third time."

I picked up my pajamas and headed for the bathroom.

Julian stood.

"So what do you want to do about this?"

I stopped at the door.

Even now, he still saw this as something that could be fixed by renegotiating the terms, drawing a clearer line, and returning everything to normal.

"I don't want to fix anything,"

I said.

Then I closed the bathroom door.