Did she just—
Did she seriously—
"Please check it for me?"
A loud sigh.
"Alright, anything for my tiny."
Oh, how cute.
Mr. Big and his tiny. I don't think we were that cute even when we first started dating back in college.
Maybe that's why...he's in there with her right now and not me?
Maybe that's why I'm out here pretending my legs aren't shaking when they so obviously are?
Don't.
Don't go down that road.
Not yet.
I'm walking. That's the only job I have right now. To walk. Like I've walked down a hundred hallways exactly like this one for him, in heels I picked because he liked them, in dresses I picked because he liked them, smiling at concierges and bellmen andthe wives of the other men who matter, because that's the job I signed up for at twenty-two.
I tossed my dreams all out of the window because he asked me to, and I believed that was what it meant to be a good wife.
That was all I wanted.
To be a good wife, and...and...just stop thinking, Nicole!
I look around desperately.
The walls.
Okay, the walls then.
I focus on them. The walls are...cream-colored. And...and the carpet underneath my heels is a solid color of gray and luxuriously thick. Very neutral and chic. Just like the rest of this hotel. And all the other guests, even the two shapes under—
"Nicole?"
The sound of my name on his lips is like having cold, hard reality slap me, and I just start running.
"Nicole, wait—"
I feel like laughing and crying. He sounds panicked. That's all I hear.Panic. Because I guess...that's all he cares about.
Him and her.
But not me...his wife, and I...I...I have to run.
Because his footsteps are getting louder, and so I keep running and running while telling myself,Don’t.
Don’t think and just run.
All I have to do is just keep running until I outrun reality and—
BAM!