After Dom is done eating, I clear the table, wash the dishes, and massage his feet while we’re watching a movie adaptation of a book he forgot to read for his book club. We’re in his bed. At some point my earring disappears, and I crouch down and look for it on his floor. Dom puts the movie on pause and helps me. He shakes the blanket and the pillows. Pads along the hallway, squinting at the floor. He is at the edge of the hallway when my fingers touch a thin gold necklace under his bed. I grab it. It spills between my fingers, shimmering. It has the letter S on it.

Sally?

Sonya?

Slutbag?

“Dom?” I call out, angling the necklace here and there, watching as it glimmers under the streaks of sunlight pouring through the venetian blinds.

He strides over to his room. “Yeah, babe?”

Silently, I raise the golden necklace between us, waiting for an explanation. He reaches and plucks it from between my fingers, frowning.

“Whoops.”

“Indeed,” I say. “Care to explain?”

My heart is in my throat. I realize this is my out. If Dom has cheated on me, I can turn my back. Walk away. Not feel guilty about it . . . then what? Hit Joe up? Oh, hey, so your brother and I are over, and I was wondering if you wanna catch up?

What am I even thinking right now? I don’t want to break up with Dom. I love him. He is my safe haven.

Dom hands me back the necklace, ruffling his perfect hair. “It was before we got together. Way before. Her name was Sierra. It was one date. Tinder. I don’t usually do those, but I’d just lost a patient and was feeling really raw. Needless to say, I went and got checked afterward. Washed the linens five hundred times. Boiled them. The cleaner must’ve not reached under the bed. I’ll talk to her tomorrow.”

Even though Dom has done nothing wrong (officially, anyway), I’m still a little put off by both the necklace and his explanation. I also feel a weird sense of disappointment to know there was no foul play. That means that he is perfect, after all. And perfect, as we all know, is where nothing grows.

“What, you don’t believe me?” He sounds shocked and hurt.

“No, I do. Of course I do!” I find myself apologizing. Now I feel bad. “It’s just . . . jarring.”

Dom takes the necklace from me, then makes a show of dumping it into the trash can. He claps his hands clean in a good riddance motion. “There. Done. Now let’s move on, please. This was before I knew you were in existence. Before I became your seventy-six-percent chance to marry. You’re a game changer, Lynne.”