Page 14 of The Logic of Loyalty

“Ha! Here, look.”

“It’s been ten seconds.” He holds his phone up for me to see the picture of me on the screen. Underneath is Carter’s caption.

Carter

When ur wifey is a hottie and a sweetheart, so everybody is half in love with her.

Billy

sounds about right.

Goddammit. Billy, you silent traitor. “Why does he choose now to communicate beyond a single emoji?”

“Never underestimate the draw of mocking a friend for his love for his wife,” Carter says, like he’s some kind of wiseman. I eye him, evaluating his haggard appearance.

“Are you sure you don’t want to come in and eat something? No offense, man, but you look wrecked.”

Carter opens his mouth like he wants to say something, but he closes it again with a snap. Not very subtly, he redirects, “You look like shit, too, if we’re comparing notes.” He gestures to me, but I’m doing fine. “I’m good, though. I’m going to go home to my woman. I was just nearby and wanted to swing by and say hey.” I live outside of town, and he lives and works in town. His reasoning is confusing, but I shrug it off. He shakes my hand before trotting down the steps. He turns around at the bottom. “Should we let our women take the reins for the fourth?”

I chuckle. “Do you want anything to actually happen?” He laughs, too, and walks the remaining distance to his old-ass truck. I don’t know how I missed him pulling up in that thing. He starts it up with a roar and waves out the window.

I have a strong feeling that something is going on that he’s not willing to talk about. I only hope he’ll reach out if he needs me.

Chapter Five

TREVOR

Paige arrived home with Jacob, having already eaten, at about eight last night. They were both asleep on the couch by nine, snoring as the movie we picked played. I carried each to their own beds, showered and changed, and then stared at the ceiling, listening to Paige’s soft snores.

I am up and out by six, but the Subaru is gone before I finish my run. I jog up the steps and open the door to silence.

The remainder of my morning is off. My suit fits perfectly, and my razor cuts a smooth line on my jaw. My eggs are still a perfect sunny side, sitting next to toast, the optimal shade of light brown. My coffee is hot, and the clink of my fork against my plate is the only sound inside my home.

While preparing my lunch to leave far earlier than I originally planned, I find a note my love left on yesterday’s dinner.

My star,

Thank you for bringing this home. Jacob and I brought ours to work for lunch. I hope you enjoy yours!

Love, your world

Krista comes to my door at ten minutes to noon, holding up her packed lunch. “You want some company?”

I gesture to the chair across the desk from me. “Please. We should go over the schedule and talk about some of these clients. I also think I misplaced a couple of my files.”

“Okay, okay. Slow down, boss man.” Krista grabs the chair across from me and drags it around the desk to place it directly next to mine. “Why don’t you show me what you’re talking about, and we can figure it out together.”

I let out a humorless laugh. “Yeah. Sorry. I have a pile of shit to do, and losing any file is not like me.” I run my hand through my hair and scoot my chair over a little to make room for her. We work through the schedule for the remainder of the month. A few times, I nearly tell her my plans for the remainder of the year, but something holds me back.

We work silently for at least forty-five minutes.

Krista leaves briefly, but when she returns, she folds her hands on the desk in front of her. Tilting her head to the side, she takes in my appearance. Her eyes move slowly from the top of my head down to my shoes. “You look tired.”

I bark out a laugh. “Wow. Okay.”

Her eyes crinkle in the corners with humor. “I’m serious. You’re a good-looking guy, but you’re not looking so good.”

“There’s a compliment and an insult in there.” I straighten the papers in front of me and align my pen with the side of it. Her sigh pulls my attention back to her pursed red lips and squinted eyes. “What?”