Chapter Three

When we got off the plane, Luke was waiting at arrivals, waving at us from across the terminal.

The moment my daughter saw him, she ran straight into his arms.

Luke held her with one arm and pulled me in with the other.

He sounded pitiful. “Babe, why were you gone so long? Did you forget you have a husband at home? I missed you like crazy!”

He leaned in to kiss me.

The thought of how many times that mouth had kissed someone else made me sick to my stomach.

I casually turned my face away and said lightly, “Stop it. There are people everywhere.”

Luke pouted.

My daughter giggled. “Daddy, all you do is miss Mommy. Didn’t you miss me?”

“Of course I missed my little princess! Wait till you see what Daddy got you at home!”

I watched them walking ahead of me, father and daughter, looking exactly the way they always had.

If I hadn’t heard her sneaking that call in the middle of the night, would I ever have found out?

At home, everything was spotless.

The vase on the dining table caught my eye immediately.

“When did we get a new vase?”

Luke paused, then explained, completely unbothered, “I broke the old one by accident a couple days ago, so I got a new one. What do you think? Pretty good taste, huh?”

I didn’t say anything.

I could tell it wasn’t his taste.

In all our years together, Luke had never once cared about how the house was decorated.

Someone else had been in my home. Why had the vase broken? What had they done on that table? I had no way of knowing.

I didn’t want to think about it. I was afraid I’d throw up.

I stood in the bedroom doorway with my bag, not sure whether to go in.

“What’s wrong?”

Luke came over to ask.

I shook my head and walked in.

The bedroom looked exactly the way I’d left it. Except the sheets and duvet cover were brand new.

If I hadn’t seen that story, I really would have thought I was imagining things.

Luke hugged me from behind and rested his chin on my shoulder. “Babe, I missed you so much. Don’t go away that long again, not even for Mia. You have no idea how badly I slept without you. Look at these dark circles.”

He leaned in to kiss me again.

Not long ago, he’d been kissing another woman, holding her, making her promises in bed. And now he was doing this with me.

My stomach turned over.

I pushed him away without making a show of it.

Before I knew, I’d have thought this was him loving me.

Now that I knew, I understood. It was all guilt. Making it up to me so he could feel better about himself.

I looked at his face, and my hands curled into fists.

Yeah. Those were some dark circles.

While I was away, those two had obviously been putting in plenty of overtime for the thrill of it.

He looked so drained, he was lucky he hadn’t dropped dead in bed.

Luke looked at me, puzzled. “Joy, what’s wrong? You look awful. Are you not feeling well?”

He reached up and felt my forehead, all concern. “You don’t have a fever.”

I stepped back. “I’m probably just tired. I haven’t been sleeping well.”

I thought for a second and added, “My parents said they miss Mia. Why don’t you take her over in a bit?”

Luke nodded. “I’ll be quick. You get some sleep.”

He planted a quick kiss on my cheek.

The moment he turned around, I fought the urge to gag and scrubbed at my face.

I listened to them leave, then started looking around the bedroom.

Luke had cleaned up thoroughly. Not a trace left behind.

But Shannon had gone to all that trouble to get into my house. How could she not leave something behind for me to find?

I looked at the perfectly smooth bed, grabbed the mattress with both hands, and heaved it up.

Sure enough, tucked against the edge was a pair of white lace panties.

My fingers dug into the mattress. In that moment, rage drowned out the heartbreak.

Who would ever have guessed that this warm, happy home would have another woman’s traces in it?