Maybe I should ask her if she feels that difference. If she feels safe or if she feels trapped. Because if she does—if she thinks she traded one cage for another—I need to fix that.

I also need to get her a therapist.

Because the flinching, the fear . . . all the signs of a woman with PTSD because she was abused are still there.

I see it in the way her body tenses when I move too fast. In the way she swallows down her instincts when someone unexpected walks into the shop. In the way she gets that look—that look—when she thinks I’m going to be angry.

She’s getting better at hiding it, but I notice. And I hate that she even has to, or that she’s working to hide it, to try to be perfect or . . . who knows, but I hope she realizes that with me, she just has to be herself.

After I finished with my client, I went straight to Simone’s office, ready to let her have it for running her mouth. Turns out, she had no idea I was keeping this from my family.

Apparently, she assumed they already knew—because, according to her, who wouldn’t immediately tell their family they got married?

And that? That’s the moment I realized how completely fucked this situation really is.

She should’ve known I wouldn’t. I can’t stand any of them. It’s not new information, but since Mal, Ledge, and Hop are close, she thought maybe our family had fixed our shit—we were finally happy again, and they had finally included me. Like I ever was part of them.

In the end, we agreed that from now on, she’ll be more guarded with what she shares with my family. Mostly, just Nysa and Delilah, who she used to be very close to in high school. Fuck, it’s like we’re back in high school but now with grown-up problems but still the same hate.

So, as I was leaving, everything was solved. That’s what I thought—until, while in the clinic, I ran into Ledger and Galeana. They were not only cordial; they invited me—and my wife—to dinner.

It was a very simple ‘fuck no’ until I realized everyone in the waiting room was watching. Of course, I had to say yes, because in this town appearances are everything. So now the town knows I’m married to Blythe and that, apparently, I get along with my asshole brothers. Isn’t that fucked up?