Chapter 2

Callum pulled up in front of the restaurant where we'd had our first date.

Seven years ago, I'd been twelve minutes late, and he'd waited for me alone at a table by the window. The restaurant had been renovated twice since then, but somehow, he'd still managed to reserve the same table.

I asked if this was why he'd refused to tell me where we were going. Callum smiled and said it wouldn't have been a surprise if he'd told me, then walked around the car, opened my door, and held out his hand.

My eyes fell on his wedding ring.

After a second's hesitation, I placed my hand in his.

He helped me out and automatically raised his other hand above my head so I wouldn't hit the doorframe. The gesture was so familiar, so effortless, that it only made it harder to connect the man beside me with the one I'd seen in those photos.

The entire dinner was almost perfect.

We had the same table from seven years ago, white tulips sat in the center because they were my favorite, and Callum still remembered all the little things I'd stopped noticing years ago because they'd become such a natural part of our marriage.

Several times, my hand brushed against the phone inside my purse.

Each time, I left it there.

Because the man sitting across from me didn't look like a man who had stopped loving his wife.

Halfway through dinner, Callum took a dark blue jewelry box from inside his jacket and slid it across the table.

"Happy anniversary."

Inside was a diamond ring.

I recognized it immediately. Three months ago, at a charity auction, I'd stopped in front of a display case to look at it for a little longer than everything else.

"When did you buy it?"

"That day."

I stared at him. I told him I'd barely looked at it.

"About half a minute," Callum said.

I looked up.

He smiled and reminded me that I never spent more than three seconds looking at something I didn't like.

My eyes dropped back to the diamond.

Three months ago.

Around the same time Tessa's private account had started showing signs that something wasn't right.

Somewhere in the middle of all those nights when I didn't know where Callum really was, he'd still noticed his wife pause in front of a display case. He'd bought the ring that same day and kept it for three months so he could give it to me on our fifth anniversary.

If he didn't love me anymore, this would have been so much easier to understand.

But he remembered.

I finally opened my purse and reached for my phone.

"Callum, there's something I need to ask you."

Before he could answer, his phone rang.

Tessa Wynn.

Callum declined the call, but less than thirty seconds later, she called again.

This time he answered. I couldn't make out what Tessa was saying, only the muffled sound of her crying. The smile disappeared from Callum's face as he told her to calm down and explain what had happened. After listening for a moment, he told her not to touch anything else and said he'd have Legal take care of it.

As soon as the call ended, he sent a few messages.

Then he reached for his jacket.

"Isn't Legal already handling it?" I asked.

"Yes, but Tessa's alone at the office. She's scared."

I watched him put on his jacket, and suddenly, all those photos I'd spent hours trying to explain away made perfect sense.

The problem was already being handled.

Tessa wasn't in danger.

And Callum was still leaving.

"Callum, stay."

He stopped.

For years, I'd almost never interfered with his work, and I'd never asked him to choose me when something truly required his attention. But this was our fifth anniversary, and the problem was already in the hands of the people whose job it was to fix it.

For once, I didn't tell him to go.

I looked straight at him.

"Stay with me tonight."

Callum was silent for a few seconds.

And for those few seconds, I still believed he might sit back down.

If he did, I would take out my phone, put every photo in front of him, and finally ask him for the truth.

I was still willing to give him one last chance.

Instead, Callum finished putting on his jacket, walked over to me, and kissed my forehead.

"She's crying, Lenora."

That one sentence made everything clear.

It wasn't that work couldn't wait.

Tessa was crying.

I wasn't.

I'd spent years understanding him, handling my own emotions, and never making his life harder. Somewhere along the way, Callum had become certain that no matter what happened, I would always be the one who could wait.

Tessa cried. She got scared. She made him feel needed.

So even on our fifth wedding anniversary, even after I'd asked him for the first time to stay with me, Callum still believed I could wait one more time.

Before he left, he told me to wait for him to come back.

I didn't answer.

The glass door closed behind him, and I looked down at the diamond on the table. Somehow, it felt crueler than the photographs.

Three months ago, he'd remembered the half minute I'd spent looking at it.

Three months later, he gave it to me, then walked out of our anniversary dinner for another woman.

Both things could be true at the same time.

He loved me.

And he betrayed me.

I closed the jewelry box, left it on the table, and walked out with my purse.

When I got home, I threw the unopened anniversary cake in the trash and took off my wedding ring. Then I forwarded Maren's photo and every screenshot I'd saved to my lawyer.

I want a divorce.

The message went through.

I didn't cry again.

Photos could be manipulated. Tessa's account could have another explanation.

But tonight, I had asked my husband to stay.

And he had still chosen to go to her.

That was the only answer I needed.