“I’m going to use the ladies’ room.” Beth lists and rocks her way down the short hallway.

Christian waits until she closes the door before he pulls me closer by my upper arms. His voice goes low. “Look, you should really talk to your husband about the arrangements for this place. Okay? First of all, I’ve kept to our agreement. I already paid him whatever rent I owed him. And also, he’s the one who had me list that stuff. He said I could take a seller’s fee.”

“I haven’t seen a single cent,” I tell him, but I think about the wad of bills Ken waved around the sushi place. Wine spins circles in my brain.

Christian’s grip loosens, but I don’t pull myself out of it. His support is kind of the only thing keeping me on my feet. His fingers stroke upward for a second, and I think he’s going to kiss me. He does not. He stares into my eyes, though, his expression inscrutable.

The toilet flushes.

He gently pushes me away, one step. Another. There’s not a lot of distance between us, but there’s enough. He’s putting it there because of her.

I look into his eyes. “Did you tell Ken about us?”

“No.”

“Liar,” I whisper.

He shakes his head.

Beth comes out of the bathroom, slamming open the door hard enough to rattle the hinges. “Oooopsie. Hey, so, this is embarrassing, but the paper won’t go down. I flushed twice, but it kind of swirls around without going down.”

“I thought you fixed that,” I tell him.

He shrugs. “I tried. You want to stick around?”

I’m already backing up toward the door. “No. Thanks.”

“I’ll call you,” Beth says after me.

There’s no answer for that but a nod. I don’t trust my voice. I shove the money into my pocket as I leave. The rise of Beth’s laughter follows behind me. I imagine her tripping, falling on her face. Breaking her teeth.

My foot isn’t even off the front step before I hear the lock click behind me. I keep going, across the yard and the squishy spot in the grass, and onto my back deck and into my kitchen, where I pull out the money and toss it on the counter. I scrub my hands at the skin, the water so hot it almost scalds. My hands feel dirty. So do I.

Listening for Eli, I head upstairs. The low murmur of his voice doesn’t even give me pause outside his door. In my room, I tuck the cash into my wallet, which has not turned out to be so lucky for me after all. I put it in my purse.

Three hundred dollars won’t go very far. Again, I pull out my laptop and look at the bank balance, hoping that somehow, miraculously, Ken’s check has been deposited.

I check the household credit card next. It gives cash back, which I usually apply directly to the balance, but this time I might be able to get the money as a deposit into my bank account and use it toward other bills. The balance on that card is higher than I’m expecting. Ken has been making charges during his trip, some of which should be reimbursed by the company. Fast food restaurants. Gas. A … corn maze?