“Sorry.” She could feel the hair in her fingers.

“Did you get it?”

“What?”

“Whatever was in my hair.” He continued to frown at her.

“Oh, yeah. It’s gone.”

8

Lina was greeted with a pounding headache and an empty bed the following morning. She peeked at the alarm clock, horrified to discover it was after 11:00 a.m. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d slept so late. A note beside the clock caught her eye, and she picked it up, squinting to read it.

“L - Took the kids to church. Didn’t want to wake you. I love you, P.”

A bottle of Extra Strength Tylenol and a glass of water sat on the nightstand.

The events of the previous night were fuzzy, but she knew why her head was pounding. She’d consumed too much wine. She had a vague memory of Phil slipping pills into her mouth and holding a glass of ice water against her lips. She couldn’t recall whether they talked or what time it was when he came home, but he’d carried her upstairs, and he must have taken off her clothes because she was naked. Where had he been? If he told her she had no recollection, but the more she thought about it, the more she was convinced there was someone else. She closed her eyes as a wave of nausea swept through her.

“This was a pleasant surprise,” Diane said as she joined Lina at a busy Italian restaurant not far from her house. “Although, why you chose this noisy place—”

“I don’t want to be overheard,” Lina interrupted. “I think something’s going on with Phil.” She quickly recounted the events of the previous evening.

“That’s it?” Diane raised her eyebrows. “Really, Lina, are you looking for reasons to be upset? Do you know how many times Wayne gets work calls on the weekend?”

“Phil has never received a call on a Saturday night and disappeared for who knows how many hours.”

“Now he has. He’s not cheating on you, Lina. And don’t you dare accuse him of it. He has enough pressure on him at work. Why would you even want to put those thoughts in his head?”

Lina felt relief as she listened to Diane. “I was so sure when he—”

“Honey.” Diane gripped her hand. “I don’t know what’s going on in that beautiful head of yours, but it’s all in your imagination. You should see the way he looks at you. Men don’t look at their wives the way Phil looks at you when they’re cheating.”

It was close to 4:00 p.m. when Lina saw Phil for the first time that day. He was in his study at the front of the house, engrossed in something on his computer screen when she paused outside the door.

He removed his reading glasses and leaned back in his chair, his eyes meeting hers. There were light shadows under his eyes, and she wondered how much sleep he’d gotten the previous night.