And Cora wanted to talk to Frazer about it. She wanted to sit down, now that they’d ended all of the sex, and talk about her marriage. Dissect the thoughts that whirled around Cora’s head. Admit that she wanted out and that she really had no idea how that linked to what Frazer and she had been doing. Before, Cora could talk to her and sleep with her. And now they weren’t sleeping together and Cora couldn’t speak to her.

Cora missed Frazer. But every time she thought of talking to her, something twisted low in her gut. And it was ridiculous. Frazer was allowed to date anyone she wanted.

But weirdly confusing questions kept rolling through Cora’s mind: did Frazer kiss that Emma woman? Did they go home together? Did Frazer want to see her again? Of course, it was all simple curiosity. Something inquisitive—the type of questions all friends wanted to know.

Today was the day Cora was telling her husband she was leaving him and she was thinking about Frazer and that ugly woman, Emma, who wasn’t at all ugly, not even a little bit.

“You seem distracted, Cora.” Doctor Massey was watching her, seeing everything, as she did.

“Today’s a hard day.”

“Of course. Do you want to talk about the affair?”

Cora twitched. Even she noticed it. “Um, okay.”

“Well, you mentioned it. So I assumed it was something you wanted to talk about.”

Damn psychologists—nothing got past them. “I probably do.”

“So, back to the original question. Why?”

Cora licked her lips. Her gaze swept over the plants in the room. There was a new one on the desk—small, with red flowers. How did she keep them all alive? A lot of time had to go into them.

It had been too long since the question had been asked, but Doctor Massey was better at waiting than most.

“I… I don’t know.”

Doctor Massey cocked her head slightly.

Cora sighed inwardly. “Because… It was easier than dealing with what was going on.”

She just kept watching Cora.

“And, uh, maybe,” Cora really had no idea, “it was a good distraction. Something to think about that wasn’t Alec and my problems.”

“Distraction is a useful technique. Do you think you were being self-destructive?”

Walking down your own psyche was never fun. “Self-destructive?”

“Well, you told me you’ve wanted out for a long time now. And you’d tried but retreated. Do you think this was a way of throwing it in, because if you got caught, your marriage would be over without you having to ask for it?”

Cora blinked at her and swallowed heavily. “Maybe.”

“Only you know the answer to that.”

“I think… I think it was distraction. Definitely. I think… I think it was also a way of knowing that my marriage would end. Like, it secured it. If Alec wouldn’t agree to it, I could use it.”