Chapter 4

The familiar vibration of my phone pulled me out of the first peaceful sleep I had had in days.

It danced on the wooden nightstand, clashing with the smooth melodies of Frank Sinatra's voice drifting somewhere nearby. It all felt like I was in a dreamland but with someone banging on my head to wake up.

I groaned faintly.

My hand slid blindly across the nightstand, fingers fumbling until they found the phone. Without opening my eyes, I answered and pressed it to my ear.

“Hello…” My voice came out thick with sleep.

Amanda’s voice burst through immediately and rang in my ear.

“Well, good morning to you too. You sound like you got hit by a truck.”

I pressed my face deeper into the pillow. “Girl, it feels like it.”

Amanda laughed softly. “So? Tell me everything. Did you actually go inside the bar or did you chicken out and go home?”

“I went in...inside,” I muttered.

“Good! And?”

I rubbed my forehead slowly. “My head is still pounding. That’s the first update.”

“That means you drank a lot,” Amanda said triumphantly. “Which means I did my job well, even in my absence.”

“No. Your job was to show up,” I reminded her.

“Okay, fair. I’m sorry again for ditching you. Kemi’s homework turned into a full math war. You wouldn’t believe that by the time we finished, it was almost midnight.”

“Mmm.”

“Did you at least get drunk enough to forget your worries?”

I opened my mouth to respond.

“I mean, that was the goal,” Amanda continued. “One night. Just one night where you’re not thinking about Daniel or that...”

I suddenly froze in shock. My eyes had been open slowly once I turned away from the pillow. First thing I noticed, was that the ceiling above me was unfamiliar. It was definitely not the ornate panelling from my bedroom at home.

I blinked.

“…Nina?” Amanda’s voice suddenly sounded distant, like it was coming from the other end of a long hallway.

I slowly pushed myself up in the bed. The sheets slipped down around my waist as I sat there, staring. Curtains I didn’t recognise hung by the window. A chair stood near the wall and my dress was draped over the back of it.

“…Nina?” Amanda repeated. “Are you still there?”

I could hear her voice but my heart had begun to beat faster.

Amanda kept talking. “Look, I’ll make it up to you. I promise. How about lunch this week? My treat. Actually...wait. Did you see Chloe last night when you got home? Because I swear if that woman is still...”

Slowly, I drowned her voice and turned my head. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the strange man from last night still asleep beside me.

The lower half of his body was under the sheets and I could swear that if my dress was lying on a chair, then he was probably naked also.

My stomach dropped as fragments of my memories rushed back to me.

The bar, the laughter, his Tinder date, Melissa, walking in and both of us running outside like children.

I remembered the sentence “Do you want to go somewhere else and chat some more?” leaving my lips.

Then the hotel lobby, more laughter. His hand brushing mine in the elevator ride which led to our first kiss.

Everything after that blurred together in heat and adrenaline and reckless abandon. The truth settled heavily in my chest.

I had come to a hotel with a stranger and slept with him.

“…Nina?”

Amanda’s voice snapped me back to reality.

“What?” I whispered into the phone.

“Oh, there you are,” Amanda said. “You went quiet. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“That doesn’t sound like nothing.”

“I’m just, you know? Tired.”

“Did something happen?”

I stared at the sleeping man beside me. He shifted slightly, turning his head deeper into the pillow.

My heart jumped out of my body.

“I’ll explain later,” I said quickly. “I have to go now.”

“Nina...”

But I had already ended the call, sat there for a moment and stared at him. I had always been the careful one. The rational one. The one who stayed within the lines.

And yet here I was in a stranger’s hotel bed. A married woman who had crossed a line I never imagined I’d cross.

My throat tightened but another thought crept in quietly. The night had felt… easy. Nothing like the suffocating tension I was going to return to once I got home. But I pushed the thought away immediately because this wasn’t the time to analyse anything. I needed to get out of here.

I carefully slipped out of bed to find myself completely naked. The floor felt cold under my feet. I gathered my dress and underwear from the chair and the floor. Every movement I made from this point was slow and quiet.

The man stirred again behind me. He rolled slightly onto his side, breathing still deeply with sleep. I exhaled silently and continued dressing.

Before leaving, I glanced back once. He was still asleep and completely unaware. I wondered briefly what his reaction would be if he woke up and found me gone.

The thought made my chest tighten as I had just used him but I turned away quickly so I wouldn’t make another terrible decision.

*

*

*

By the time I reached home, my head was spinning. I slipped inside quietly, hoping the house would still be asleep.

Instead, the smell of savoury food hit me immediately. I walked toward the kitchen slowly with eyebrows raised, wondering why the chef was preparing something this good for breakfast.

I stopped where I stood when I realised that it was Chloe who stood at the stove with an apron tied around her waist.

Underneath it, she wore a soft, flowing gown that hugged her figure just enough to feel inappropriate for morning cooking.

“What is going on?” I yelled out angrily.

Chloe jumped out of shock then looked at me with a bright smile.

“Good morning, Nina. You scared me for a sec,” she said cheerfully. “Just preparing breakfast for the family.”

I blinked slowly.

“For the family?”

“Yes.”

I stepped fully into the kitchen. “Also, when did we get on a first-name basis?”

Chloe’s smile faltered slightly.

“And why isn’t the chef cooking?”

Before she could answer, Daniel’s voice came from the hallway. “Oh good, you’re back from wherever it is you run to.”

I turned toward him while he was checking his watch for the time. “Care to explain this bullshit?”

Daniel glanced at Chloe, then back at me.

“It’s not a big deal,” he said. “Some of my old high school friends from back home are coming over tonight.”

“And?”

“Chloe offered to help cook dinner since you were MIA.”

Chloe lifted the spoon slightly. “I thought I’d warm up by making breakfast.”

I stared at them both.

“First, you brought your secretary into my home and you let her into my kitchen?”

Daniel sighed. “Why are you making this dramatic?”

“Dramatic?” I repeated.

“Yes.”

“The woman people say you’re involved with is cooking breakfast in my house??!”

Chloe looked uncomfortable but Daniel rolled his eyes. “Oh please. Rumours are rumours.”

“Then why is she here?”

“I told you. I have a guest coming over tonight.”

I laughed bitterly. “We have staff for that.”

Chloe spoke quietly. “I just wanted to help...”

“No one asked you,” I snapped at her.

“Enough!” Daniel’s patience broke immediately. “You’re overreacting again,” he said coldly.

“I’m overreacting?”

“Do you even cook for me?” Daniel asked flatly.

The words hit like a slap. I stared at him knowing fully well that he had said on multiple occasions after they got married that he didn’t like my food.

“You know what,” he continued, grabbing a cup of coffee. “Forget it. Just get over yourself and look good when my friends arrive tonight.”

I stood there in disbelief, humiliated by the man I had taken vows with at the altar. Without uttering another word to them, I turned and walked out on them.

*

*

By evening, the house buzzed with voices. Laughter echoed through the living room as Daniel’s friends arrived one by one.

I descended the staircase slowly. I wore a fitted evening dress, my hair carefully styled with a polite smile on.

Daniel looked up and grinned when he caught sight of me.

“Gentlemen,” he announced proudly, “this is my beautiful wife.”

One by one the men greeted me and introduced themselves with warm handshakes, hugs and friendly smiles.

“Nice to finally meet you.”

“Daniel talks about you all the time.”

Daniel slipped an arm around my waist and kissed my cheek.

“My loving wife,” he said with a grin.

I smiled back.

Then the doorbell rang. Daniel glanced at the clock.

“That must be Liam.”

One of the men laughed. “Always fashionably late like the old days.”

Daniel walked toward the door and opened it. “Liam! Finally!”

“I’m so sorry, brother. Traffic was terrible.”

The sound of that voice made my stomach drop to the ground. Slowly, I turned toward the doorway to make sure I wasn’t imagining things.

Daniel stepped back into the room with the newest guest beside him and it felt like I couldn’t breathe anymore.

It was him. The man from the hotel. The stranger from the bar. The same man I had woken up beside only hours earlier.

The other men greeted him enthusiastically.

“Liam! Damn, it’s been many years since I last saw that dumb look on your face, brother.”

“Ouch. But good to see you too, I guess.”

They shook hands, laughing. He hadn’t seen me yet while I stood frozen.

Daniel finally turned toward me.

“Come over, babe,” he called.

My feet moved slowly like I was walking on nails.

Daniel smiled proudly. “Babe, this is Liam. My best friend who packed his bag and moved half way across the world without staying in contact.”

“Liam, meet my lovely wife, Nina. The one thing I can’t share with you rascals.”

Everyone burst out into laughter. Except Liam and me. We shook hands like strangers and his eyes had the same look in them after we shared our first kiss at the bar.

He smiled politely.

“Hello, Nina,” he said. “It’s really nice to meet you.”