Chapter 1
When I came back from the restroom, my best friend was sitting on my husband’s lap.
There were nearly thirty people at the restaurant for our friend Lena’s birthday. The table was crowded, the music was loud, and Megan’s chair stood empty less than three feet from Daniel.
She had one arm around his neck.
He was laughing.
Then Megan saw me.
Her smile grew wider. She stayed exactly where she was and tightened her arm around him.
For one second, I tried to find an innocent reason.
Megan had been my best friend for twelve years. She helped me choose my wedding dress. She sat with me after my mother died. She knew which parts of my marriage frightened me to talk about.
I walked toward the table.
“What are you doing?”
Daniel stopped laughing.
Megan tilted her head.
“Relax, Claire. We’re joking.”
Daniel nodded too quickly.
“Yeah. It’s nothing.”
I looked at her chair. Then at Ryan, her husband, sitting across the table.
“Okay,” I said. “Then I’ll sit on Ryan’s lap.”
Megan got off Daniel so fast that her chair almost fell over.
“What?” she snapped.
“Why not?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
The conversation around us stopped.
I kept my voice steady.
“You were sitting on my husband’s lap with your arm around his neck. I’d be doing the same thing with yours.”
“That would be inappropriate.”
“Yes,” I said. “It would.”
Ryan looked down at his glass. Daniel stared at the tablecloth.
Megan’s cheeks reddened.
“You’re twisting it. I didn’t mean anything.”
“Then why did you stay there when you saw me?”
She opened her mouth.
Nothing came out.
I sat in my own chair. I could feel people looking at me, waiting for me to yell. I wanted to. My hands were shaking under the table.
What hurt most was how easily Megan had expected me to swallow it.
She leaned toward me.
“We’ve been friends for twelve years. You know I’d never do anything to hurt you.”
“That should have made it easier for you to get up.”
Her face hardened.
“You always make everything a drama.”
I stood.
Daniel reached for my hand. I pulled it away.
I was halfway to the door when Megan muttered, “So dramatic.”
I turned back.
“Explain the joke, Megan.”
She crossed her arms.
“What?”
“What was funny about sitting on Daniel, wrapping your arm around him, and staying there after you saw me?”
No one laughed.
Megan stared past me at the wall.
I walked outside.
The air was cold. I stopped beneath the restaurant awning and tried to breathe.
Daniel came out a few seconds later.
“Claire, I’m sorry.”
“Why did you let her do it?”
“I didn’t think she’d stay.”
“But she did.”
“I know. I should have asked her to move.”
I looked at him.
“Has she done anything like this before?”
He hesitated long enough to answer me.
“What else?”
“She made comments. A few months ago, she said if we ever split up, she’d take me in.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“I thought she was joking. She said you were lucky I still looked good after marriage. Stuff like that.”
“Stuff like that,” I repeated.
“I ignored it because she’s your friend.”
“She’s my friend, and you’re my husband. You could have told me.”
He rubbed his face.
“You’re right.”
My phone buzzed.
Megan: I can’t believe you humiliated me in front of everyone.
Another message followed.
You’ve always been jealous when I’m the center of attention.
Daniel read it over my shoulder.
“That isn’t fair,” he said.
Through the window, I saw Ryan standing beside Megan. He looked exhausted, and for a moment I remembered something he had once told me during a game night.
“There’s a difference between jealousy and asking someone not to disrespect you.”
At the time, I thought he was talking about an argument at work.
Now I wondered.
The restaurant door opened.
Lena stepped outside. She had taken the seat beside Daniel before I went to the restroom. She looked as though she wished she were anywhere else.
“Claire,” she said, “I think you should know what I heard.”
My stomach tightened.
“Tell me.”
She looked back through the window.
“Megan leaned close to Daniel right before she climbed onto his lap. She said, ‘You promised you’d tell her tonight. If you won’t, I’ll make her ask.’”
I turned to Daniel.
May you like
His eyes dropped.
“What were you supposed to tell me?”
