Confused.
Still loving her despite wanting not to.
Then his expression closed.
“I bought you flowers.”
Nia started crying again.
Caleb walked downstairs.
He left the flowers on the table.
He left the coffee untouched.
Then he drove away.
This time Nia did not wave.
Caleb spent the first night at Marcus’s apartment.
He didn’t tell Marcus the full story immediately.
He simply showed up with a suitcase.
Marcus opened the door wearing sweatpants and holding a bowl of cereal.
“Aren’t you supposed to be in Chicago?”
“No.”
Marcus studied his face.
“What happened?”
Caleb looked past him.
“Can I stay here tonight?”
Marcus stepped aside.
“Of course.”
Caleb entered.
Twenty minutes later, they sat at the kitchen table.
Caleb told him.
Marcus said nothing for almost a minute.
Then, “The lawn guy?”
Caleb laughed bitterly.
“Yes.”
“The guy you hired?”
“Yes.”
Marcus put both hands over his face.
“You’re serious?”
“I wish I wasn’t.”
“Did you—”
“No.”
Marcus looked at him carefully.
“Good.”
“Good?”
“You walked in on something that would make most people lose control.”
Caleb stared at the table.
“I wanted to.”
“But you didn’t.”
“No.”
“That matters.”
Caleb shook his head.
“It doesn’t feel like anything matters.”
His phone buzzed.
Nia.
He turned it face down.
It buzzed again.
Then again.
Marcus looked at the phone.
“You gonna answer?”
“No.”
“Probably smart tonight.”
Caleb rubbed both hands across his face.
“What am I supposed to do?”
Marcus didn’t pretend to know.
“You don’t have to decide tonight.”
“I do.”
“No, you don’t.”
“What am I supposed to do, go home tomorrow and eat breakfast with her?”
“I didn’t say that.”
Marcus leaned forward.
“You found out this morning. Your brain is still trying to catch up.”
Caleb stared at the wedding ring on his hand.
“I keep replaying stupid things.”
“Like what?”
“Her handing me my jacket.”
Marcus said nothing.
“The way she kissed me.”
Caleb swallowed.
“I keep seeing her standing in the doorway.”
His voice broke slightly.
“She knew he was out there.”
That was when Marcus understood what Caleb was really grieving.
Not only the affair.
The performance.
The ordinary goodbye that had meant one thing to Caleb and something completely different to Nia.
Caleb removed the wedding ring.
He placed it on the table.
He stared at the pale mark it left on his finger.
Marcus quietly slid a glass of water toward him.
Neither man spoke.
Back at Briarstone Lane, Nia sat on the staircase until after dark.
Isaiah called twice.
She didn’t answer.