Chapter 6: What My Wife Admitted

I did not call her back.

I finished my coffee and told Willa I felt better.

She hugged me and said, "Eat something, you're gray."

Then I taught three more classes without hearing a word I said.

At six-fifteen I walked into our kitchen.

Lydia was at the stove stirring a pot of soup she hadn't made in months.

She had changed into the soft blue sweater I liked.

She had set two places at the table, with candles.

"You didn't call," she said, too brightly.

"No."

"Dane said you ran into Willa at the school. Isn't that funny?"

"I told him you probably went to look at the playground, because of what we talked about."

She laughed.

I took out my phone, unlocked it, and set it on the counter beside the soup.

I pressed play.

It was half a minute long.

The first few seconds were mostly sky.

Then my wife's gray coat appeared by the fence, and a black truck.

A man in a navy coat bent to kiss her temple.

The sound was bad, but it was good enough.

You could hear him say her name.

You could hear her laugh.

Lydia turned the stove off with a click.

She did not reach for the phone.

She stood with the spoon in her hand and the soup steaming at her face.

She watched the whole video to the end.

When it stopped, the kitchen was so quiet I heard the pilot light.

"How long?" I asked.

"Cal."

"How long has Dane been your... whatever he is."

She put the spoon down very carefully.

Keep reading free with an account. Start My Wife's Secret Son Isn't Mine from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.