"Nathan, please don't start with what you think."
"What do I think?"
"You know."
"I really don't."
He pointed around the room.
"I walked into my house and found a man I've never met playing with my kid while my wife looked happier than I've seen her look on half our video calls."
Daniel quietly said, "I should go."
Nathan looked at him.
"No."
Claire stared.
Nathan continued.
"You've apparently been comfortable enough to sit on my floor, go into my son's bedroom, and leave your jacket on my porch."
He stepped closer.
"You can be comfortable enough to stay for the explanation."
Daniel nodded slowly.
Claire whispered, "Nathan, you're angry."
"I'm observant."
"You've been home five minutes."
"And I'm learning a lot."
Claire's eyes filled.
Daniel stepped forward.
"Nothing happened between us."
Nathan looked at him.
"Didn't ask you."
"I'm telling you anyway."
Nathan laughed softly.
"That's usually a great sign."
Claire snapped, "Stop."
Nathan turned toward her.
The force in her voice surprised him.
Claire rarely raised her voice.
She had done it maybe six times during their thirteen-year marriage.
Nathan stared.
Claire immediately softened.
"Please."
He said nothing.
She took a breath.
"Daniel is not my boyfriend."
"Okay."
"I'm not having an affair."
"Okay."
"I'm not leaving you."
Nathan looked toward Daniel.
"Then somebody explain why he looks like he lives here."
Daniel's expression changed.
Claire looked toward the stairs.
Then back at Nathan.
"He doesn't."
Nathan waited.
"But he has been here a lot."
"How much is a lot?"
Claire did not answer immediately.
Nathan smiled without humor.
"That's what I thought."
"Almost every day."
His face hardened.
"For how long?"
"Six months."
Nathan became completely still.
Six months.
Half a year.
Half a year of video calls in which Claire never once mentioned Daniel Reeves.
"Six months."
"Nathan—"
"Six months?"
"Yes."
"And you never thought to mention him?"
"There was a reason."
"There always is."
Daniel said quietly, "I asked her to tell you."
Nathan's eyes moved toward him.
"That's interesting."
"Nathan."
"No."
He pointed toward Daniel.
"He gets to speak now."
Daniel swallowed.
"I told Claire keeping it from you would make it worse."
Nathan nodded.
"Congratulations. You're the smartest person in my house."
Claire rubbed her forehead.
"This is exactly what I was afraid of."
"What?"
Nathan stepped toward her.
"Me coming home?"
"No."
"Finding him?"
"No."
"My son calling some other guy every time he wants a Lego set built?"
Claire's eyes flashed.
"Do not do that."
Nathan stopped.
"Do what?"
"Make Eli part of your anger."
That reached him.
He lowered his voice.
"Then take him out of it."
"I can't."
Nathan frowned.
Claire looked at Daniel.
Daniel looked exhausted.
Nathan saw something between them.
Not romance.
Something else.
Shared knowledge.
A secret.
He suddenly hated that more.
"What happened?"
Claire's face changed.
Nathan saw it.
He had spent fifteen years reading people under pressure.
Something was wrong.
Not affair wrong.
Worse.
"Nathan," Claire whispered.
He stepped forward.
"What happened while I was gone?"