Yuki demonstrated the shocked look she got on her face; it was hysterical and we all laughed. Yuki said, “The second time we come back he looks directly at the videographer and says to her, ‘Are you hitting on me? Are you coming on to me?’

“Then, of course, we had to take a five-minute break because she was laughing so hard she was crying.”

One minute I was laughing at the story, but the next my mind must have wandered off, because I suddenly realized that the girls were staring at me.

Yuki in particular gave me an appraising eye.

“Something’s wrong, Lindsay. What is it?”

“I’m fine. It’s been a really long day, but I’m okay.”

“I know what you look like when you’re tired, Lindsay,” Yuki said. “This is different. You look like you’ve been running laps in hell.”

Cindy said, “Yuki’s right. Are you feeling sick? Are you coming down with something?”

The waitress brought over another pitcher of tap along with a bottle of Australian root beer and a frosty mug of ice, both of which she put down in front of me.

When her footsteps faded I said to my friends, “Joe is having an affair.”

Chapter 71

Chapter 71

I POURED ROOT beer into my mug with a shaking hand. For a long moment, the only sound in the room was the hiss and crackle of the soda hitting the ice. Then everyone spoke at once.

Claire shouted — actually, she insisted — “No. No. Joe would never cheat on you.”

Cindy cut in. “This just can’t be true.”

But Yuki believed me.

She was back in her role of human nail gun, pinning me with her eyes, firing questions, bam-bam-bam.

“Who is the woman?”

“June Freundorfer. An old partner of Joe’s in DC.”

“How old?”

“My age.”

“How did you find out, Lindsay?”

“Does it matter?”

“Did Joe tell you about the affair?”

“No. She did,” I said.

“She called you?” Yuki pulled back, her face flattened in surprise.

“She called Joe. I picked up his phone.”

Claire got up from her chair, wrapped her arms around me, squeezed the tears right out of my eyes.

Yuki went on as if I weren’t crying, as if Claire weren’t beaming stop signs at her with her eyes.

“Did you ask Joe about this?”

“Uh-huh.”

“He admitted it?”

I shook my head no.

Cindy reached across the table and clutched my hands.

Yuki said, “So, just to make sure I’ve got this right, Joe denies the affair.”

“He’s lying about it, yes. So I kicked him out of the house.”

Claire said, “Honey, what did this woman say?”

I shook my head. I couldn’t talk anymore.

Cindy let go of my hands and gave me a wad of paper napkins stamped with MacBain’s logo: the planet Earth whirling through a sudsy amber sky.