My mind flashes back to what it felt like to be on his table, his fingers inside me as he fed me my mission. You will be my little spy, stealing secrets and exploiting them for my entertainment. I had relished that moment. The very idea that we could work together to undermine Travis had been seductive.

But that was just a game. We were role-playing, as couples are wont to do in those circumstances. Lander doesn’t want to work with me. He wants to use me. And I can never be his spy . . . only his traitor.

And that is the tragedy of us.

As Jessica continues to ignore me, I reach into my purse and answer back, Shh! Quiet, lover, I have work to do.

“Who are you texting?” Jessica snaps, as if she just noticed that I was still on the other side of the table.

“Just my neighbor. She wants me to watch her dog when she—”

“Fine,” Jessica says, already bored with my lie. I sigh and zip up my purse, futilely trying to push Lander from my head.

It’s only about forty minutes into brunch before Jessica’s starting her third Bloody Mary. And she’s getting sloppy.

“You lied to me,” she slurs with a smile.

“What? Jessica, I’ve never—”

“Oh yes you did!” She laughs and wags a finger at me. “You said you weren’t sleeping with my husband.”

“I’m not,” I say coolly. “Would you like to go to his office right now and ask him? We can do that. I don’t think he’ll lie to you.”

“Yes, why hurt me with lies when the truth will do?”

I sigh and glance around the restaurant. I’m pretty sure this isn’t Jessica’s normal lunch spot. It’s about as close to a dive as you can get in this part of town. The exposed brick walls are nice, but the place is dark despite it being late in the morning.

“You choose to stay with him and he chooses to stay with you,” I say impatiently. “Obviously there’s something still there between the two of you. Why don’t we go back to his office and you can talk—”

“I stay because if I don’t he’ll take my children,” she snaps, before adding, “my children and . . . and other things.”

By other things I assume she means her Bergdorf card and her happy pills. She barely knows her children so I can’t imagine she’s too broken up over the possibility of losing them.