Page 2 of Secrets on Ice

Two bare bodies tangled together on a blanket spread across the wooden floor. For one confused second, they’re just bodies.

Skin.

Arms.

Legs.

Then I see the tattoo on Kevin’s left shoulder blade. The one I’ve traced with my fingers a thousand times. Trevor’s hand grips the back of his neck as a low, unmistakable sound echoes through the empty house. They’re completely lost in each other and don’t hear us.

No.

Nope.

This isn’t real.

My brain can’t reconcile what I’m seeing with anything I know. Cassidy makes a sound I’ve never heard from her before. Something guttural and broken, like it’s been ripped from the middle of her chest. My water bottle shifts in my numb fingers and clatters to the floor. The bang breaks the frozen horror looping through my head.

Kevin looks up first.

His eyes meet mine. Horror flashes across his face.

“Fuck.”

He shoves Trevor away so hard that he sprawls sideways, exposing both of them even more. They scramble for their clothes, frantic and clumsy, with pants tangled around their ankles and shirts spread across the floor.

“Em.” Kevin’s voice cracks. “Fuck.”

“It’s not what it looks like,” Trevor blurts, yanking his shirt over his head. His face is bright red, his voice high with panic. “Cass, baby, please.”

Cassidy takes one shaky step backward. Trevor’s phone slips from her fingers and clatters onto the hardwood, the screen cracks on impact.

I still haven’t moved. It’s like my feet are bolted to the floor.

Kevin drags on his pants and stands, leaving them undone. He holds his hands out toward me like I’m a frightened animal he needs to calm.

“Em, please. Let me explain. It’s not …”

Those hands. Those familiar hands that have touched me a thousand times. Touched my body. That have worn a wedding ring I put there. Now they’ve been all over Trevor. Something inside my chest snaps.

“Don’t,” I warn him, my voice coming out low and flat, sounding nothing like me.

Kevin stops. “Ember …”

“Don’t,” I warn him again. Turning, I grab Cassidy by the wrist and pull her with me. She stumbles but comes willingly. I don’t run, but I walk with pace. I don’t say another word as I walk out the front door, down the porch steps, and toward the car while both our husbands chase after us, calling our names and trying to convince us we didn’t see exactly what we saw.

My husband is gay.

The thought slams into me as I slide behind the wheel. Cassidy climbs in beside me and slams the door. In my peripheral vision, Kevin and Trevor run down the path half-dressed. Neither of us speaks as there’s nothing to say right now. I reverse out of the driveway, ignoring their frantic waving and shouting.

I drive to the end of Magnolia Avenue and turn left. We pass the gym where we should be right now. Then the coffee shop where Cassidy and I go every Friday after class. I drive like I know where I’m going. I don’t. My mind has gone completely blank.

Your husband is gay. The thought hits again. Your husband is gay, and you had no clue.

Cassidy stares straight ahead. Her jaw is clenched so tightly I can see the muscle in her cheek ticking. She hasn’t blinked. It’s as if she’s carved from stone and if she moves even one inch, the whole thing will crack, and she’ll never be able to put herself back together.

“Have they always been gay?” she asks quietly.

“I don’t know.”