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Marcus nodded, taking it in. “The only marriage advice I have is don’t take marriage advice from a single guy like me.” He chuckled gently. “It sounds complicated, and I really hope there’s a solution where you get what you need.”

I could tell he was choosing his words carefully and trying hard not to criticize Will.

“You’re being kind.”

“You want me to be mean?”

“I want to know what you’d tell your sister to do if you had one.”

“I have a sister.” He straightened up slightly. “And I’d want her to be happy. But you have to decide what that means. What do you want your life to look like in five years?”

Five years felt like a lifetime from now.

Before I met Will, I was living paycheck to paycheck.

And then when we started dating, I got so swept up in the moment.

I lived life looking forward to the next date or weekend together.

It was so all-consuming that we never talked about the long term.

Now, thinking about the way Will looked at me when I asked about a baby made my stomach hurt.

I put my head in my hands. “I’ve made so many mistakes.”

Marcus put a gentle hand on my shoulder. “You don’t have to have it all figured out tonight,” he reassured me softly. “It’s late. Maybe you just need to get some sleep. If you don’t want to go home, I have a guest room.” He looked at my designer dress. “And a T-shirt you can borrow.”

I might kill Will if he stayed the night at another woman’s house.

But it was just in the guest room. Just so that we could both cool off, I justified.

Then I checked my phone, hoping there would be a text from Will begging me to come home.

But it was after midnight, and he hadn’t tried to call me since I left.

“Okay.” I nodded, taking the last sip of my tea and resting the mug on the coffee table in front of me.

—

I woke up to the sound of a knife sliding across a cutting board.

It wasn’t staccato, it sang. I rolled over and looked at the clock on the wall: 5:47 a.m. I picked up my phone, wondering if Will had called, but there was nothing but an alert for some headline in the local paper.

I was immediately split between blind rage and worry.

He didn’t call.

But what if he hadn’t called because he was unconscious or something? I checked Find My. He was at the office. Not in a hospital bed or lying mortally wounded on the living room floor.

Fine.

I sat up in bed and felt the last ounce of optimism drain from my body.

My dour attitude was in sharp contrast to Marcus’s warm décor.

In the morning light, his house was even cozier than I noticed last night.

There was an herb garden, and multiple tomato plants that were flourishing, with tiny red tomatoes.

I flinched a little when I saw Marcus walk out to pick some herbs.

Like I’d caught him in his own intimate, perfect life.

I couldn’t help but wonder what my life would have looked like if I had a place all to myself. A house of my own.

Will’s taste had become mine. His life was my life now.

I watched Marcus walk back inside, breaking me from my weird reverie. I got out of bed and slid back into my couture, realizing that this was threatening to become a strange not-walk-of-shame.

I came into the kitchen as Marcus put the finishing touches on a crepe-style omelet that looked so good I didn’t even pretend I was going to pass up eating it. He slid a cup of espresso my way as I sat down and dug in.

“I called to have your car towed to Leroy Tire. Hope that’s okay. You sleep all right?”

“Yes, thanks. It’s quiet and away from the lake. Listening to all the frogs’ nightly calls is something I didn’t realize that I now take for granted.”

“Yes, we simple people live without the frogs.”

I blushed. “I didn’t mean it that way.”

“I’m teasing.” Marcus plated his own breakfast and sat down next to me.

“For those of us who didn’t grow up with fuck-you money, it’s like we’re in the bubble but not in the bubble.

Right? I’m just the chef they all want to say they know, but not the guy they’re going to bring completely into the fold. ”

“Right. Interloping.”

“It’s not interloping when they give you a key and the combination to the safe, Nora.”

I turned and looked at Marcus. He was right. I wasn’t an interloper. I was invited in, given the access. And that realization made me even more mad at Will, who brought me in and now, in his own way, was treating me like the interloper that the rest of them acted as if I was.

No, no deal. I’ve got the combination to the safe.

“I should get home.” I was calm, but there was a fire under the surface.

Marcus nodded and cleaned up the breakfast plates so he could take me home.

And a quick ten minutes later, he was depositing me at the top of my driveway.

“Thanks for everything.”

“I hope you work it all out, Nora. But I’m around if you need…anything.”

I smiled and watched as he drove away, but my smile faded when I realized I didn’t know what I was going to say when I finally talked to Will.

Still, I stalked up the driveway with unyielding purpose.

I was so ready for whatever would come that I didn’t see Este standing at the end of her driveway, taking in the whole scene.