“Tori, honey, you have been acting differently these past couple of weeks.”

“Yes, I know I have.” She still couldn’t grasp what he was saying. “But why did you follow me?”

“I was trying to figure out what was going on with you. The way you’ve been acting lately, well, I—”

“Now, isn’t that rich?” she said, with a huge amount of sarcasm. “Why don’t we start with what is going on with you?” She flipped through the photos on her phone and pulled one up with him and the trampy-looking woman.

“Wait. What?” He grabbed the phone and increased the picture. “How the hell . . .”

“You tell me.” Tori peered at him suspiciously.

“That’s Jack’s sister, Dana. She’s a piece of work.”

“Oh, she was working it all right. Obviously. I saw you with her at Ringo’s.”

“What were you doing at Ringo’s?” Now he was the confused one.

“I wanted to try to be more involved with your life. I was going to surprise you. Instead, you surprised me.” She flipped through a few more photos. “I was standing in the entryway. You didn’t answer my text that night, either.” She gave him a cold stare. “I saw you ignore it.”

“I just didn’t want to get into anything. Dana was being a pest, and I was trying to dissuade her from mauling me.”

“How good of a job did you do?” She kept her stare.

“She backed off and moved on to Joe. Why didn’t you ask me about this? Is this why you’ve been acting, I dunno, distant?”

“I have to tell you something.” Tori gulped a good amount of air.

“Are you having an affair?” he asked.

“What?” Tori blurted. “You can’t be serious.”

“Then what is it?” He had a pleading look in his eye.

For the first time, Tori felt that she could drive this bus. She was matter-of-fact. “Look, I haven’t been happy for a very long time. Over the years, we’ve drifted apart. It’s as if we’re two strangers living under the same roof.”

He buried his head in his hands. “I feel like I’ve failed you.”

Tori was shocked to hear his words. “What do you mean?”

“When I talked you into running away, I had big dreams for us. I wanted to give you everything you never had. A big house. A nice car.”

“We have a nice house and a big car,” Tori said, with a slight bit of humor.

He snickered. “That wasn’t exactly my plan.”

“I think that’s where we zigged when we should have zagged. We never had a plan. We were flying by the seat of our pants for years. Then when we got comfortable, we became complacent.”