“Honestly, I have no idea. Can you imagine if I tell him I missed the appointment? He wasn’t exactly in favor of spending the money to begin with. But to miss it completely? And how do I even explain that I went for lunch with a stranger? I wouldhateit if he did that with some good-looking woman.” Even as the words came out of her mouth, Jessica knew that wasn’t true. There was a time when she would have hated it, but not anymore. Now she wasn’t even sure she’d mind if he had an affair, which she supposed said something about the state of her marriage.
“Of course you’d hate it. I would too. Victor would be on the couch for days if he pulled something like that.”
Jessica’s face heated up with shame. “It’s not like Ididanything. We didn’t even flirt.” Just some innocent teasing. If the same exchange had taken place with a woman, she wouldn’t think twice about it.
“Yes, I know that. I’m sure the last thing on your mind is having an affair,” Diana said, sounding like the perfectly supportive best friend she was. Sort of. But underneath that, Jess knew Diana was telling her having an affair was the last thing thatshouldbe on her mind. And she wasn’t wrong about that.
“Trust me, I’m not about to have an affair,” Jessica reassured them both. “Who has the energy for all that sneaking around?”
“Or for all that sex, for that matter?”
“Exactly. Can you imagine the effort it would take? To book appointments to get everything waxed, find a place to do it, then have to make up a bunch of lies about where you’ve been…”
“And why you’re all waxed.”
“That too.”
“No, thank you. I promise I’m not about to blow up my life over a stranger, so don’t worry about that,” Jessica said firmly.
“I know you won’t, but I just had to check. In case maybe your midlife crisis is worse than I thought.”
“Midlife crisis? Come on, I’m not Ted. Or my father.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to imply that you were anything like either of them. I only meant that Mike really is one of the good ones. A little clueless sometimes, but he loves you.”
“He really does. And he’d never cheat on me.”
“No, he wouldn’t,” Diana agreed.
“So, do I tell him the truth about what happened today?” Jessica asked, returning to the reason she called in the first place.
Big exhale. “I don’t know. What would Kira do?”
“I think she’d be honest about it without being apologetic.”
“Agreed. She’d say, ‘Yes, I screwed up by missing the appointment, but I don’t regret it because in the end, the person I did talk to was really helpful and I feel a lot better.’ That is, if you do feel better.”
“I feel a little better, I guess. It’s not like Aaron had all the answers or anything, but he did encourage me to pursue my dreams.”
“Which are?” Diana asked.
“I don’t know. I haven’t figured that part out yet.”
“Okay, one thing at a time, then. Do you tell Mike?”
“Yes. I think so.”Grrr, that truck was now so close, if she tapped her brakes, he wouldn’t see it. He’d just slam into her.
“Will it help?”
“I’dfeel better about myself but he won’t. He’d be pissed. And he’d have a right to be,” Jessica said, beating her friend to the punch.
“True. Okay, let’s look at it from another angle. If you had walked into a woman’s office and had gotten the same reaction, would you feel the need to tell him?”
“Well, that’s a good point. He wouldn’t care at all if I had a bowl of soup with some random woman,” Jessica said, guilt creeping over her skin, making her feel uncomfortably flushed. She was tempted to open the window, but it would be too loud, so she turned the heat down instead. “I should probably tell him I missed the appoint—”
BANG!! The truck slammed into Jessica’s car, and she was thrown violently forward, her body jolting. She hit the brakes and squeezed her eyes shut as the impact sent shockwaves through her body. The air bag erupted from the steering wheel, slapping her face like a giant hand, leaving her stunned and breathless. Earsplitting noises surrounded her—metal crunching and brakes squealing in symphony with Jessica's racing heart. She kept her eyes shut tight, bracing herself for a second impact. The smell of smoke filled the car, and for one awful moment, she was certain her car was on fire. Terror rippled through her as it sunk in that she'd been in an accident.
"Jess!” Diana shouted. “Should I call 911? Tell me exactly where you are!"
