“You absolutely can.”
“He’ll be angry.”
She looked directly into my eyes.
“Mara.”
Her voice was calm now.
“So am I.”
Those three words somehow made me feel safer than I had in weeks.
We rode the elevator together in silence.
The rain continued pounding outside.
My hands shook so badly I could barely hold the railing.
When we reached our apartment, Vivian didn’t knock.
She unlocked the door with the emergency key Caleb had once insisted she keep “just in case.”
Apparently…
this was the case.
The apartment was quiet.
The television was still on.
Caleb was asleep on the couch, wrapped in a blanket, snoring peacefully.
Peacefully.
While his pregnant wife sat downstairs on a wooden bench.
Vivian stood over him.
“Caleb.”
Nothing.
“Caleb.”
He stirred.
Then opened one eye.
His expression immediately brightened.
“Mom?”
The smile disappeared the second he noticed me standing behind her.
“What are you doing here?”
Vivian answered before I could.
“That’s exactly what I’d like to know.”
He frowned.
“What?”
“Why is your wife sleeping in the laundry room?”
Silence.
A dangerous silence.
Caleb looked at me.
“You told her?”
“I found her.”
Vivian’s voice cut through the room like glass.
“I asked you a question.”
He rubbed his eyes.
“It’s not what it looks like.”
“Oh?”
“Mara’s pregnancy has made sleeping impossible.”
Vivian blinked.
“So…”
“I have an important job.”
“And?”
“I need rest.”
She waited.
He actually seemed to believe his explanation made sense.
“So we worked something out.”
I laughed.
Not because anything was funny.
Because I couldn’t believe those words had actually left his mouth.
“We worked something out?”
Caleb finally looked uncomfortable.
“I mean…”
“You ordered me downstairs.”
“I suggested—”
“You ordered me.”
“I pay the bills!”
The words exploded through the apartment.
Vivian slowly turned toward him.
“What did you just say?”
Caleb straightened.
“I said I pay the bills.”
She stared at him for several long seconds.
Then she asked a question so quietly it almost sounded gentle.
“Do you?”
He hesitated.
“What?”
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