Inside, someone laughed, and a chair scraped across the floor. The party carried on as though everything were perfectly normal.
“Tomorrow,” Tom said. “We follow them. We keep our distance, and we record what we see.”
I nodded, clasping my trembling hands together.
“Don’t let them see you,” I said. “If they suspect we’re watching, we lose our chance.”
Tom agreed.
We returned separately, each of us concealing the same secret behind ordinary smiles.
Tomorrow would reveal whether Michael had betrayed me once—or whether my marriage had been over long before I understood it.
By Friday morning, I had practiced pretending everything was normal so many times that I almost convinced myself.
Michael kissed my cheek before heading to work. “I’ll be out with the boys tonight. Don’t wait up.”
“Have fun,” I said, forcing my voice to remain steady.
He smiled, already focused on his phone.
Once he was gone, I texted Tom: Still tonight?
His response came immediately.
Yes. I’ll meet you near the turnoff.
That evening, Michael left first.
I waited several minutes before following. Tom approached from another road so neither of us would be spotted together.
We kept enough distance between us that I lost sight of Michael’s car twice
