We’re standing in the reception area of the hall where Alicia’s school is performing. Ethan and my parents have already gone ahead. To give her a quick hug, let her know we’re here, and help steady her nerves.
Mine are coming undone instead.
I huff a laugh. “If you do that, he’ll just move into the office to make up for the losses.”
“Suit yourself.” He chuckles, but it fades almost immediately.
I send him inside to sit with the others. The moment I’m alone, the air feels tighter. My nerves coil, every second scraping against my skin. I glance at my watch again, eight minutes.
A tired sigh slips out as I head toward the auditorium, my heels clicking too loud down the corridor, each sound louder than it should be.
“Ceci.”
Relief rushes through me at the sound of his voice. I turn, my smile already in place. “You came.”
He pulls me into his arms, his breath warm against my ear. “Of course I came. I promised.”
I’m still smiling when something soft and unfamiliar cuts through the scent of his cologne.
Sweet. Feminine. Not mine.
My fingers curl into his jacket, drawing the fabric closer as my chest tightens.
“Colin…”
When he tries to pull back, I hold him there, my nose brushing his lapel. The unfamiliar sweetness stings, instant and unwelcome. My voice lowers, edged with something harder. “Whose perfume is this?”
He laughs, too quick, too light. “How should I know? I deal with a lot of people every day. Women included.”
“I didn’t realize corporate meetings required women to lean close enough to leave their perfume behind,” I say mildly, one brow lifting.
A crooked, almost amused smile curves his mouth. “You know how it is. Women can’t resist me.”
I don’t blink.
When he finally notices my expression, the smile slips. He cups my face, thumb brushing my cheek. “Come on. You know you’re the only one for me.” He kisses my forehead, then adds softly, “We can’t be late. They’re about to start.”
I let him take my hand, though my fingers feel rigid in his grasp. We walk toward our seats together, the hall warm and humming with anticipation.
And still, a hollow opens in my chest… an uneasy sense that something important has just brushed past me, unnoticed, and refused to be named.
It’s hard to believe it’s already been over two weeks since Alicia’s ballet recital. She was radiant, pure light on that stage, and the performance itself was flawless.
Yet throughout the celebratory dinner afterward, I barely tasted a thing. I kept watching Colin. Studying him. Waiting forsomething, any slip, any shadow crossing his face that would justify the unease gnawing at me from the inside.
Lately, I find myself doing this far too often. Looking at him not as the man I’ve loved for nearly twenty years, but as if he’s become someone else entirely. A stranger guarding secrets I can’t reach. My eyes track the angle of his face when his phone lights up in his hand. Linger on the distant glaze in his eyes when he thinks I’m not watching.
Once, I even considered calling Felicity. Phone in hand. Thumb hovering.
But what would I say?
So… there was a strange perfume on Colin’s clothes. When Oliver cheated on you years ago, did you notice anything like that? What other signs should I be watching for?
I couldn’t do it. It’s been years. She forgave Oliver. They rebuilt something solid. Dragging her back into that pain over nothing more than a suspicion of mine felt cruel.
I hang the gown I’ll wear tomorrow for the charity gala at the Waldorf Astoria and turn toward the bathroom, lifting the laundry hamper into my arms. Colin’s shirts sit rumpled on top, ordinary in every way…
Until my gaze catches on one detail.
