Page 40 of Chasing the Other Woman

I risk taking a step closer. "I should have talked to you about all this a long time ago. I should have told you what was going on in my head, and I should have listened to you. Instead, I just let it all come out sideways."

She laughs, sharp. "Sideways? Brooks, sideways is what happens when you forget my favorite color or forget milk when you go to the grocery store. This is so far beyond sideways.

"You took me out of the field. Stopped trusting me. And then, as if that wasn't enough, you replaced me with another woman. A blonder, younger woman. You do the math."

"Sam, that's never⁠—"

"I know. That's never what you intended. It just happened spontaneously, magically, bit by bit, until I was gone and she was right there beside you. And even now, she's following you around like a little lost puppy dog. I heard someone refer to her as your 'young wife' right in front of me, Brooks."

Fuck. I wipe my hand over my face. Of all the ridiculous ways for this to go…

No. Not sideways. Sam was right. She always is. This is far beyond sideways. This is upside down and turned inside out.

The back door swings open.

Luci stumbles out with a laugh too loud for the space. “There you are."

As if this night can get any worse.

She has a plastic cup in one hand. Her cheeks are flushed, but her eyes are too focused when they land on Sam. Then she sways toward me like she's walking on one of those shifting carnival floors in a fun house.

“Brooks,” she says, dragging my name out. “You vanished.”

I step back before she reaches me. “Go inside, Luci.”

She ignores that and presses her palm to my chest. “You’ve been running yourself ragged. Somebody has to take care of you.”

I catch her wrist and remove her hand. “What the hell are you doing?”

Her mouth parts.

I'm doing my best to keep track of whatever horror show is happening before me while keeping track of Sam in my periphery. Sam, who's went very still, watching the same horror show I'm watching and no doubt interpreting it from a very different angle.

Luci lets out a soft little laugh. “Don’t be like that. Not after everything we’ve been through.”

The crate slips slightly in Sam’s arms. Glass clinks against glass.

I drop Luci’s wrist like it burned me. “Go. Inside.”

Sam is already moving.

“Sam, wait.”

She sets the crate on the ground with careful hands and walks out of the alley.

I follow.

She makes it as far as the side of the building before turning on me.

“Don’t,” she says.

"I don't know what that was, but it's definitely something I didn't want."

She snorts. “Congratulations, Brooks. You’re finally where I’ve been for two years. The ‘I don’t want any of this’ phase.” She turns, her eyes flashing. “Tell me, which part did you not want? The part where she crawled all over you, looking for all the world like she’s done that exact thing before, or the part where I saw it?”

"Sam, you can't think that. She means nothing to me."

For a minute, Sam's mouth trembles and I think for one horrified second that she might cry. I should know better. It only takes one second for her to get control of her face. "Weird that she means nothing when she's the one getting everything I've wanted for two years."