While I'm Unconscious, He's Still Saving His Mistress novel · Chapter 3 of 24

Chapter 3: Where Were You

Dean comes back at dawn smelling of Brynn's perfume and lies about where he went; Carrie reads Brynn's text on his phone and tells him she is leaving the hospital with her sister, not him.

Dean came back at ten past six.

The window had gone from black to grey. I had not slept.

He eased the door shut and tiptoed to his chair, a paper cup in each hand, and then he saw my eyes were open.

"Hey," he said softly. "You're up."

"Where were you?"

He set a cup on the tray beside my bed. "I ran home. I needed a shower, and a clean shirt for you to look at."

I looked at the shirt.

It was the same wrinkled blue one he had worn yesterday.

His hair was dry.

And over the smell of coffee came something sweet and warm, vanilla and brown sugar.

I knew that smell. It came from a gym bag that lived in the back of Dean's SUV and belonged to Brynn.

"You went home," I said.

"Yeah."

"To our house."

"Where else would I go?"

I watched his face.

He did not blink.

I had spent five years believing I would know if Dean lied to me.

I had been wrong.

"What's in the cup?" I asked.

"Tea. I thought you'd want something warm."

"Thank you."

He smiled, relieved, and sat down.

I did not drink the tea.

Faye came in at seven, still in yesterday's jeans.

She carried a bag of clean clothes and a muffin from the vending machine, which she apologized for.

She put the bag on the foot of my bed.

The round-faced nurse from the day before came in to check my vitals, and Faye walked her out into the hall.

I heard their voices through the door.

I couldn't make out words.

Faye's voice got lower and flatter.

When she came back in, she did not look at Dean.

She looked at me.

I knew then. Faye had asked the one question I had not.

"I'm going to get breakfast," Dean said, standing. "Can I bring you anything? Either of you?"

"No," Faye said.

He took his phone from his pocket and set it on my tray while he searched for his wallet.

The screen lit up.

It was a text from Brynn.

It said: Did she wake up? Come to me when you can. I need you.

Dean snatched the phone back so fast that the cup tipped.

Tea ran over the edge of the tray and onto my blanket.

"Sorry. Sorry. It's work." He pressed a napkin over the spill. "They want me in for a status call. I'll tell them it can wait."

"Does it say I woke up?" I asked.

Dean went still.

"Who told them I woke up?"

"I mentioned it," he said. "I mentioned it to my manager. Brynn is on the team. She was worried."

"I bet she was."

Faye's mouth pressed into a hard line.

"The nurse says you left at eleven-forty last night," she said. "She saw you leave. She did not see you come back until six."

Dean opened his mouth.

"I had to go," he said. "Brynn was in trouble."

"What kind of trouble?"

"Her ex. He turned up at her apartment. She locked herself in the bathroom and called me."

"She called the police?" Faye asked.

"She didn't want to make a scene."

"So she called a married man instead."

"Faye."

"Where were you, Dean?" I said again, softer this time.

He looked at me. His eyes were wet.

"I stayed with her until he left," he said. "I drove her to a hotel, and I stayed in the lobby. Carrie, I swear it was nothing. You were asleep. I didn't think you would wake up and need me."

I turned my face toward the window.

"You told me you went home to shower."

"I didn't want to upset you."

"You lied to me in a hospital bed, Dean."

"I was trying to protect you."

"From what?"

He had no answer.

A cart rattled past in the hall. Somewhere a monitor began to chime.

"I want to leave this hospital with Faye," I said.

"Carrie, you can't leave. You have broken ribs and a torn knee. You need someone to look after you."

"I just said who."

"I'm your husband. I'll take time off. I'll take care of you at home."

"At home," I said, "where nobody would find me for three days."

It landed.

Dean's face closed up, then opened, then closed again.

"I'll come with you," he said. "To Faye's. I'll sleep on her couch."

"No," said Faye.

She said it quietly, and she did not move from her place at the foot of my bed.

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