Chapter 3

"You sit at home all day, every day. You've gotten so bored you've started imagining things!"

"Why don't you go out and find a job too? Stop sitting around at home all day."

I looked out the window and kept my voice level.

"Weren't you the one who told me to quit my job and be a full-time housewife?"

"You said you made enough, that you could support me, that all I had to do was stay home and look pretty."

"You said I was too beautiful, that you didn't trust the world out there, that you were afraid other men would want me."

"But you can't just stay home forever either. If we had a kid, you wouldn't be sitting around coming up with all these ridiculous ideas every day."

The second he mentioned a child, something inside me twisted painfully.

I'd been pregnant twice. The first time I lost the baby because Ethan's little nephew crashed into me.

The second pregnancy was ectopic. After the surgery, I never fully recovered.

Ethan looked so heartbroken for me. He told me it was okay. He'd get a vasectomy, and we'd be happy together without children. He said that was all he needed, as long as we had each other.

"You should go out and work, keep yourself busy. Then you won't suspect everyone around me of having an agenda."

I let out a cold laugh.

"Ethan, is this it? You think I'm not worth being your wife because I don't work and can't give you children?"

"See, there you go again, twisting what I said. I told you to get a job because it's good for you."

"If you don't want to go, then don't. Nobody's forcing you."

Ethan slammed on the brakes, making me jolt forward.

"We're at the restaurant. Get out."

He didn't even wait for me, just strode straight inside.

I followed behind him and watched him walk right up to a table where the guests had already settled in.

When I looked closer, Whitney was sitting right there among them.

They all stood up when they saw us.

"Mr. Shaw, you finally made it. We'd just been waiting for you to get here before we ordered."

Whitney looked at me. "Mrs. Shaw, please, have a seat."

I stayed where I was and didn't move. "If you want to have dinner with Whitney, go ahead. You don't need to drag the rest of us along to cover for you."

Ethan slammed his fork down.

"I knew you'd have to come in here and make some snide remark. I didn't even want to bring you in the first place!"

"Tonight is the sales department's team dinner. It was Whit who suggested bringing you along to put an end to the misunderstanding from this morning."

"There's nothing going on between us. Why do you always assume the worst about us? Everyone from our department is here. Ask them if there’s anything going on between Whitney and me!"

Derek Lambert, the sales supervisor, spoke up first. "Mrs. Shaw, I've worked under Mr. Shaw for five years, from when this company was just getting off the ground right up to today. Nobody knows his character better than I do. He would never cheat on you!"

"Mr. Shaw is a devoted husband, through and through. And Whitney has a master's degree. She's an educated woman. There's no way she'd knowingly be the other woman."

"Besides, we all work at the same company. If anything was really going on between them, we'd have noticed."

"I can swear to God. Mr. Shaw and Whitney are not what you think they are!"

The others chimed in, one after another.

Whitney looked both wounded and touched, tears glistening in her eyes.

"Thank you all for standing up for me. Otherwise, I'd never be able to explain myself."

The fact that no one else had noticed anything only proved how well they'd covered their tracks. It didn't mean there was nothing going on behind my back.

Maybe in their eyes, I, Vivian Carter, was nothing but a suspicious, unreasonable, hysterical madwoman.

Ethan lifted his head to look at me. "Vivian, if you're going to eat, then sit down now. If you can't, then you can just leave."

"Stop standing there. You're ruining our appetite."

I dropped into a seat.

"Well, since all of you say so, then maybe I really did misjudge Whitney."

"Sorry about that, Whitney."