He reaches into his jacket pocket for the car keys when something stops me.
“That’s not the suit you were wearing this morning.”
Colin keeps his back to me as he answers. “Little accident at work. New associate. Cup of matcha,” he says with a low chuckle, still walking toward the door. “I had to shower at the office and change. You wouldn’t believe the day I’ve had.”
I follow him to the car, and for the entire drive my thoughts keep returning to his words, and to everything unsaid. The way his back stayed turned to me. The way he never once met my eyes.
On paper, nothing he said is suspicious. Accidents happen. He’s a workaholic; he’s dealt with a hundred emergencies over the years. None of this is new.
And yet… something in me is tugging hard, refusing to let it go. A gnawing, persistent knowing that there’s something beneath the surface he isn’t saying. I try to push it down, tell myself I’m imagining things, but the doubt keeps clawing its way back up.
I lean my head against the cold window, letting the glass steady me, trying to slow the part of my mind that’s suddenly, fully alert.
As soon as Alicia spots Colin waiting outside the hall, she shouts, “Daddy!”
She’s such a daddy’s girl. And despite everything swirling in my chest tonight, I can’t help but smile when he pulls her into a tight hug, eyes falling shut as he buries his face in her hair and presses a long, tender kiss there.
Alicia smooths the skirt of her pink dress, smiling as she turns to show it off. Colin offers one compliment after another, his voice warm and sure, and with each one her smile grows brighter, unguarded, as if she’s soaking up every second of her father’s attention.
“Mommy, we can still take some pics! Come, Daddy!”
I pull my phone from the pocket of my jeans, matching her excitement with a soft smile. “As many as you want, sweetheart. As many as you want.”
I don’t stop taking pictures. When Colin twirls her and she throws her head back in laughter, I capture it all. Every frame, every second thinking, almost painfully:
This is the man I married.
On the drive home, Alicia chatters nonstop about prom. How incredible it was, how Karen nailed every single detail, right down to the live band everyone’s been talking about lately. Her excitement fills the car, buoyant and contagious.
Once we’re home, I walk upstairs with her and help loosen the pins from her elaborate hairstyle, careful not to tangle her curls any more than they already are. I kiss her forehead, wish her sweet dreams, and then step back, giving her space and privacy to get ready for bed.
When I walk out, Colin is waiting in the hallway outside her room.
“Do you think she’s forgiven me yet?” he asks as I close Alicia’s door, and we start down the hallway toward our bedroom.
There’s a hesitant tilt to his voice that softens something in me, and I reach for his hand.
“You know Alicia can’t stay mad at you for long. She’s your little princess.”
His mouth curves into a relieved smile as he pulls me into a hug, the tension easing right out of him. He lowers his head and kisses me. Soft at first, but the moment his hands slip beneath my shirt, I stop him.
“Colin,” I breathe, his lips already tracing a path down my neck. “Colin, stop. I just came to change into something more comfortable. I need to go downstairs and work a bit on my new assignment.”
He nibbles at the base of my neck, his voice rough as he murmurs, “Can’t I convince you to stay? Just a little?”
I press a quick kiss to his lips and pull back.
“No. Not tonight. I’m not in the mood. You said it was a long day. I think you should rest.”
His jaw tightens, a tiny flicker, easy to miss unless you know him as intimately as I do. I don’t say no to him often, and resisting him is its own kind of ache, because I know exactly what he can do to my body… and exactly how easily I could give in.
But I’m not letting him use my body as a shortcut to forget the weight of yet another promise he broke.
Colin
The smell of bacon and fresh coffee hits me as I come down the stairs.
Ceci’s at the stove, flipping pancakes while listening to yet another audiobook.
