Page 89 of Clear Shot

I don’t know what I’m going to do exactly, but short-term, I’m out of here.

I packed up my things—everything except those stupid shoes—and drove to Claudia and Anders’ house. They have a practice this morning so I make sure to wait until I know Anders will be gone. Then I knock on the door and wait for Claudia to answer.

“Hey! What’s…” Her voice trails as she takes in the expression on my face. I don’t know what I look like, but it must be bad because she immediately reaches for me. “It didn’t go well, huh?” She pulls me inside and gives me a big hug.

“He thinks I cheated,” I whisper, the horror of last night’s conversation finally hitting me.

“He what?” She stares at me in confusion.

“It never even crossed his mind that it’s his kid. He just talked around me, like it was a foregone conclusion that I cheated. And get this—he said he’ll honor our one-year marriage agreement as long as I don’t try to take half the house.”

Her mouth opens but nothing comes out.

Then she snaps it shut and grunts. “Well, fuck him and the horse he rode in on. Didn’t you defend yourself?”

“He caught me off-guard with the cheating stuff. It never occurred to me that’s what he would think. I thought he’d be furious about the fact that he thinks his genetics are bad and demand I have an abortion or something.”

“And that never came up? He didn’t ask for a DNA test or anything?”

“Nope. It was all about me cheating.”

“Huh.” She chews her lip thoughtfully. “Complete denial.”

That gives me pause, because as hurt as I am, she’s right.

“You believe I didn’t cheat, right?” I ask softly.

Her eyes fly to me, wide with disbelief. “Of course! Don’t be ridiculous. You’ve been crazy in love with him for much longer than you’ve been married. And you would never cheat anyway because even if you didn’t have feelings for him, you need that visa and cheating would put it at risk.”

“Exactly. So how is it thathedoesn’t see any of this?”

“I don’t know.”

I’m exhausted and queasy and sad.

My heart is broken in ways I never thought possible, and it feels like the worst kind of betrayal that Aiden wouldn’t entertain any options other than infidelity.

What does that say about us as a couple?

What does that say about me? He has zero faith in me, and that probably hurts more than anything else.

I trusted him.

Fell in love with him.

And none of it was real.

He pretended it was, but when the chips were down, he turned his back on me.

“You need something to eat and a nap,” Claudia says after a moment. “I can see how tired you are.”

“What am I going to do, Claudia?”

“You’re going to have some breakfast and then rest.”

“But—”

“We’re not going to solve anything this morning, so you need to take care of yourself while we think about what’s next.”