Page 92 of The Liar's Reckoning

I pull away gently and hand her back the test stick. “I need to talk to you about something.”

She cocks her head and frowns as she takes it, staring down at the unmistakeable word on it. “Are you okay?”

I nod, but I turn on the cushion to face her, too. “I haven’t been completely honest with you.”

“Oh?” The sound is soft. She doesn’t look up.

“There’s a man,” I say before I can second guess the confession.

“Oh.”

“He knows about us, and I trust him completely, but I wanted you to know because…”

Why the fuckdoI want her to know? Andnowof all times.

I’m patient while she processes this. In a soft voice she finally asks, “Who is he?”

I can’t tell her that. She knows Silas. She sees him all the time—more often than I do, especially in the last month. “Let’s not do that,” I say. “I don’t want to get into details. I just need you to know he’s not a threat to this.” I nod toward the pregnancy test.

“I just thought we…” She shakes her head, give a self-deprecating laugh. “Stupid. Never mind.”

“I know, Avery. And you’re not stupid. That’s why I’m telling you. There’ve been so many times I wish I could—I don’t know—changefor you. Be the husband you actually deserve. But I’m still as gay as I was the day we met, and?—”

“How long has this been going on?”

“A few months.”

She looks suspicious. “Really?”

“Yes.”

“Not since before we got married?”

“No.”

“So, it’s not serious,” she states, like she’s willing me to minimize this.

It catches me off guard. The look on my face must give me away.

“I see.” She takes a deep breath. “So what does this mean?”

“It doesn’t change anything.” Those words hurt me to say more than they have any right to.

“Wow, that’s glib,” she scoffs. She tosses the test carelessly on the coffee table, and it skids to the floor.

It’s not like I thought she’d be happy for me, but this feels more like jealousy.

“I’m not going anywhere,” I try to assure her.

Her lips press tightly together. “That’s comforting.”

“I’m sorry, Avery.”

“For what?”

“For not being able to change.”

“You did change, though,” she says. “I mean, if you weren’t lying about never being with a man before. You could have gone your whole life that way, but you changed your mind.”

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