Daily Habits of Another Woman novel · Chapter 1 of 24
Chapter 1: Warm Milk
A week before her wedding, Willa finds her fiancé's note of another woman's habits, watches him leave at midnight to comfort that woman, and walks out with a new line appearing in the note behind her.
Corin warmed a glass of milk for me every night, and every night I drank it and felt sick.
I never told him.
He would put the glass in my hand and wait for the first sip, and the waiting was what I loved.
I took pictures of it and sent them to my best friend.
"He remembered again," I wrote. "Who does that?"
She sent back three hearts and a skeptical eyebrow.
A week before our wedding, I sat at the kitchen table with our shared tablet, sorting the seating chart.
That morning a nurse at the women's clinic had told me I was seven weeks along.
I had the printout folded in my coat pocket.
I planned to tell Corin over dinner, but he texted that he would be late.
I opened his notes app to find the caterer's number.
At the top sat a note titled "Nicolette," edited that same afternoon.
Nicolette had been my roommate for three years of college.
She was also the girl Corin dated before me, and when we first got together he swore he had cut off all contact.
When she married her boyfriend last year, Corin and I had picked out her wedding gift together.
I opened the note.
Warm it ten seconds. Half a spoonful of honey. Don't ask her if she wants it, she never says no.
Cinnamon rolls from Hart's Bakery on Fridays.
Rocky road when she has cramps. Not vanilla. Bring it to the bed.
I kept reading.
Birthday dinner at Casa Verde, the booth by the window. Order the spicy chicken. Push her to eat more, she likes being pushed.
My stomach went cold.
Two years ago, for my birthday, Corin had taken me to Casa Verde.
I had drunk two glasses of water over that meal, and he had smiled and told me to try one more bite.
I went home with a stomach that hurt all night, and still I posted a picture thanking him for the surprise.
The last entries were new.
No soft cheese. Crackers by the bed before she stands up. Sickness is worst before nine. Appointments Thursdays at 9:15.
I read that twice.
Nicolette was pregnant, and Corin knew her appointment days.
I had found out that morning, and I had not told a soul.
I took the printout out of my coat and tore it into pieces, slowly, one strip at a time.
Then I sat on the couch with the lights on and waited.
It was nearly midnight when the lock turned.
Corin hung up his coat, saw the glass of water on the table and said, "No milk tonight?"
He opened the fridge. "I'll warm some up for you."
"Corin, milk makes me sick."
He stopped with his hand on the door.
"I asked you for oat milk last month," I said. "You told me two kinds of milk in the house was too much trouble."
"Then don't drink it." He frowned. "I've been working since six. Do we have to do this now?"
I turned the tablet toward him.
"You heat it for ten seconds with half a spoonful of honey. That's Nicolette's cup. Why wasn't that too much trouble?"
His face went still.
"You went through my notes."
"Those nights you worked late, were you taking her to her checkups?"
He pulled out a chair and sat across from me.
"Her husband died last month," he said. "She's pregnant and alone. What's wrong with helping her?"
"You're her friend too, Willa."
"So you remember every detail she needs," I said, "and you never once remembered that milk upsets my stomach."
He leaned back, irritated.
"I cook for you every day," he said. "I make you a drink before bed. Half your friends are jealous of you."
"Last time I had cramps, you brought me ice cream."
I heard my own voice go flat.
"You said it always cheered her up. I thought it was a strange way to comfort me."
"Have you ever done one thing because I liked it?" I asked. "Not because she did?"
Corin picked up his phone.
The screen lit.
He read it once and stood up for his keys.
"She threw up again. She's scared to be alone tonight. I'm going over there."
"It's past midnight."
"Last winter my stomach hurt," I said. "I asked you to run to the pharmacy, and you told me it was too late."
His hand was already on the doorknob.
"Willa, she has nobody else right now. Go to sleep. We'll talk tomorrow."
The door shut behind him.
I did not cry.
I sat with the tablet in my lap and watched the note.
A new line typed itself in, letter by letter, while his car was still pulling away from the curb.
He'll bring milk in the morning. Let her be angry tonight. She always comes around.
Someone else had the note open, right now, giving him his next move.
I photographed the whole note with my phone, the new line last.
Then I took off my ring and set it on the tablet.
So I picked up my bag and left.
In the elevator my phone buzzed, a text from a number I had not deleted in six years.
Nicolette: Corin told me everything. Please don't blame him. Can we talk tomorrow? I'm so sorry.
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend