Page 79 of Lumi

“I don’t know. I just got a sense that there was more of a friend vibe between ye two than wild lovers.”

“Not every couple eats each other’s faces in public. Spencer was secure enough in our relationship that he didn’t need to touch me in public constantly. That doesn’t mean nothing happened in private.”

“Did ye love him?”

“Yes, I loved him.”

Jolene stopped the video. “That last statement was a lie.”

I crossed my arms. “No, it wasn’t. I cared very much for Spencer, or I wouldn’t have been with him for almost a year.”

“There’s a difference between caring for someone and loving them. Let’s go back a little. I want you to tell me what you see when you look at your body language and tone of voice.”

Jolene played it again while I commented. “So, I look a little defensive, and my tone got a little shrill, but I was in a bad mood that day. That doesn’t mean I was lying.”

“You’re doing it again, Lumi. You’re not honest, and it makes me wonder if we’re all wasting our time here.” Jolene rested her elbows on the table.

“How can ye be so certain that Lumi lied? I watched her closely, and there were no signs,” Damian defended me.

“There were plenty of signs. Let’s watch it one more time.” Jolene pointed to the screen. “Here, look at where she’s positioning her hands, and how her eyebrows drew very close when you asked her if she loved Spencer. Not only was there a small hesitation before she answered, but her tone also got high-pitched.”

Damian frowned. “She’s positionin’ her hand in front of her. What’s wrong with that?”

Jolene imitated the movement I had in the video. “Her hand goes to protect her throat.”

Damian leaned closer to the screen. “I can see that, but I don’t associate that with lyin’.”

Jolene had her hand on her throat and explained, “It’s a sign that Lumi felt attacked. Protecting our throat is programmed into our nervous system from way back when our ancestors saw animals kill. Predators like wolfs and lions go for the throat.”

“All right, but feelin’ attacked and lyin’ are two different things. How do you see that she’s lyin’?”

Jolene froze a picture of me. “See the color in Lumi’s cheeks. Clearly, her blood is pumping fast at this point, and when someone gets this defensive, it raises a red flag. Call it intuition, but my guess is that Lumi wanted to love Spencer, but she never truly did.”

They all looked at me, and it made my palms sweaty.

“You want to comment on that?” Atlas asked.

My hand went to my collarbone, but as soon as I realized it, I lowered it and stuffed it under my thigh. “There might be some truth to that,” I admitted.

“Now, let’s talk about why Lumi got defensive in the first place.” Jolene played back the part where Damian asked me if I’d slept with Spencer. “Notice the accusatory undertone from Damian here?”

Damian cleared his throat. “It was just a question.”

“Right, but in this clip, you moved in your seat, and your voice got darker, and your tone took on a harder edge. You don’t like the thought of Lumi sleeping with Spencer, and even though you never said it in words, Lumi picked up on that, and it made her defensive. Let me pause and zoom in on your face when she told you that Spencer slept with her… There, see how you’re sucking in your lips?”

“So what?”

“That’s a sign of stress, and it tells me that you don’t like what you’re hearing.”

“Ye conclude that from my lips?”

Jolene had an aura of authority about her when she spoke. “You would be surprised how much we say with our lips that isn’t related to words. Disappearing or compressed lips are universal behaviors controlled by thelimbic system. Our lips are highly vascular and rich with nerves. Under stress, they disappear completely or compress together. Now the interesting part is, why didn’t you like to hear that Lumi slept with Spencer? Why did it bother you to hear that she loved him?”

“I don’t know.” Damian shrugged. “Spencer just seemed like a bore to me. I was in an unhappy marriage, and I didn't want Lumi to make that same mistake.”

“Okay. Let’s look at a different situation. This clip is from Saturday.” Jolene looked down at her notes where she had the exact minute and second of what she wanted to show us. She pressed play.

“So, did you learn something about me?” I asked in the video.