Cash: Okay. See ya then, teach.

I probably shouldn’t enjoy the way he calls me “teach” as much as I do. Flipping my wrist, I check the time—half-past three. I decide to head home for a few hours until I need to meet Cash. I rode my motorcycle to class today. My house is only about a ten-minute ride from campus, and most days, I choose to take the bike instead of my car. The weather has been colder, but not unbearable.

Pulling into the garage, I take my helmet off, heading inside. Aida is in the living room folding laundry when I walk into the house.

“What are you doing home so early?”

“Hello to you too, honey,” I drawl, slipping my shoes off.

She scowls at me. “Hi. What are you doing home so early?”

“I have to go back to campus around six to go over a new project with my aide. Thought I’d come home in the meantime.”

“So, you’re not going to be home for dinner… again?”

“No, I’m not, Aida. Work’s been hectic lately. One of the professors in the English department had her baby early, so we’re all having to pick up the slack. If I could be home, I would. Why do you care anyway? It’s not like we ever eat together.”

“Whatever, Stone. It’s always something with you.”

Here we fucking go.

There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t piss her off in some way. Things between us seem to be getting gradually worse. We argue almost as much as we ignore each other lately.

It’s not all her fault, either. If I’m being honest, I don’t enjoy being around her anymore. We have nothing in common. We feel more like roommates than husband and wife. We don’t even have sex anymore. We haven’t for over a year, but when we did, it was rushed and void of any intimacy at all.

Part of me thinks that’s why I latched onto Cash as much as I did when we were in Portland. Yes, cheating is wrong, but he made me feel seen—heard—like I mattered. Mix all that with the whiskey that diluted my mind, and it’s not all that surprising I kissed him the way I did. Though it doesn’t excuse it, and it certainly doesn’t make me feel less guilty.

It’s also not all that surprising that I’m still fantasizing about it. Okay, obsessing is probably a more fitting word. But I need to knock it the fuck off. It’s wrong on so many levels.

“While we’re here, remember we have that banquet to attend for the college in a few weeks.”

She rolls her eyes. “Do I really have to go, Stone? Can’t you go alone? It’s not like these events are any fun for me.”