Dominic freezes.
“What are you talking about?” He angrily says. “It was a kiss that I didn’t want!”
“Stop lying!” I shout. My whole body shakes. “I saw you fucked Sophie!”
The memory crashes into my mind again. “That day I was leaving for the conference, I turned back!” My voice breaks as the images replay in my head. “I came back to the house and I saw you!”
My hands tremble as I point toward him. “You were in the bedroom.” My voice cracks harder now. “She was on top of you.”
The image is too painful to finish.
I choke on the rest of the words.
“I know it was her,” I whisper through the rain. “Her long blonde hair… on top of you, Dom.”
Tears run down my face as I shake my head.
“Why, Dominic?…Why?”
Dominic stares at me.
At first his expression is pure confusion. Then something shifts in his eyes. Understanding, slow, heavy. His voice softens.
“It wasn’t Sophie, Era.” The rain continues to fall around us. “It was you.”
The rain keeps falling around us.
Cold.
Relentless.
Dominic’s words echo in my ears.
It was you.
I stare at him like I’ve completely misunderstood.
“What do you mean it was me?” I ask.
My voice sounds distant to my own ears. Like it’s coming from someone else. Dominic takes a slow step closer, his expression filled with something I’ve never seen on his face before.
Sadness.
Regret.
“The night before the conference,” he says carefully. “You… you dyed your hair.”
I frown.
“What?”
“For months your hair was blonde,” he continues quietly. “And then you dyed it back to black.” The rain runs down his face as he looks at me. “That night—before you dyed it—we… we made love, Era.”
My stomach twists violently. “You dyed it black the next day,” he says. “The day before you left for the conference.” He shakes his head slowly. “I could never touch anyone else.”
His voice breaks. “I would never cheat on you.”
The forest feels like it’s spinning around me.
