It was damning. There was nothing explicitly untoward; Cierra was adjusting platters of vegetables and dips and was mid-laugh, looking at Erik, who appeared just as joyful and had his body contorted, probably in an effort to make her laugh, being his usual affable self. All the same, it was carefree and effortless. Warmly intimate.
“Nadine, Erik’s girlfriend — well, at the time — took a picture of us setting up the event,” Cierra explained hastily.
No wonder she was pissed that night, Cierra thought. It seemed obvious now.
“Ah, I see,” Julian replied, before pivoting the conversation back to work.
While he didn’t appear to be upset, Cierra’s stomach did somersaults for the next twenty minutes, her indiscretion feeling increasingly impossible to keep from him.
Her family left before nine; her mom hated being on the road at night, especially in the city. And since they’d ordered in, Cierra had the plates and forks washed in no time, while Julian took out the trash. They were going about the nightly chores quietly when Cierra noticed Julian looking deep in thought.
“Spending the night?” she asked, assuming he would say yes.
“I’m not sure. I have an early morning tomorrow, and I’ve been a little off my workout routine.”
“Oh, alright.”
Cierra dried her hands with a dish towel and joined Julian on the couch. He leaned over with his hands clasped.
“So, you’re really close to the family you work for, huh?”
“Yeah, you could say that. I mean, it’s hard to know how close you can ever really be with your employers, but I like them. They’re good people, and they’ve been supportive of me. Plus, I practically live in their house, go on vacations with them and stuff.”
“That makes sense. Seems like it’d be weirder if you weren’t close. I guess I never really thought about it like that.” He paused. There was obviously something picking at him and, unfortunately, Cierra had a good idea where this was coming from.
“Have they met your family, too? The Lawsons?”
“No. Well, Lisa and Jess did. Not the whole family, just—”
“Erik?”
Cierra’s heart began to race. “Uh, yeah.”
“It kinda threw me when your mom confused me with Erik earlier, I didn’t realize how close you two were.” Then he paused, recalling something. “He was at Mia’s party, right? The guy coming off the elevator?”
“Uh, yeah. I think so.”
“Youthink?That’s kind of weird to just walk past someone you’re apparently friends with. Is there something else going on here?”
The cozy apartment suddenly felt claustrophobic. How could she explain the situation to him? She hadn’t technically been unfaithful, but she hadn’t been upfront either, so she knew this was going to be tough. Especially given he’d told her his ex-wife had cheated on him. Julian looked calm but determined tofind out the truth. Cierra was backed into a corner, and it was obvious the only way out was going to be through. She took a deep breath.
“Remember when we were arguing during the Catskills trip? You told me you didn’t want to be exclusive, and I didn’t take it so well?”
Julian nodded slowly, his eyes cast down. “Yeah, I remember.”
“Right, so, one night during the Catskills, Erik and I were talking — just how we normally would — but we drank a lot of wine and . . . uh . . .”
“Did you guys sleep together?” he asked, quietly. Knowingly.
“Yeah.”
Julian pursed his lips and stared at his hands, which were still iron-clasped in his lap. It felt like a full minute passed before he lifted his head to meet Cierra’s eyes.
“Listen, I promise we’re just friends. We’re just . . . around each other a lot. It was always platonic, I swear.”
“Okay,” he said. He bit the inside of his cheek at her mention that it was platonic; the past tense obviously not escaping him.
“That was right before we went to Oceans, right?” he asked. Cierra nodded. “Why didn’t you tell me then?”
