Page 41 of The Hotel Room

“I don’t even know why I’m here,” he muttered, forcing himself to meet her gaze.

Dr. Adler gave a slow, patient nod. “Okay. So what brought you here today?”

James exhaled sharply, leaning back. “My wife left me.”

The words came out harder than he meant, bitter and blunt.

“She took the kids. She came back, but it’s like...like she’s still gone. She’s moved into the guest room. And all because I—” He stopped, the words sticking like tar.

The weight of her gaze made him say it.

“Because I cheated.”

She didn’t react.

He hated the silence more than the words.

“I told her the truth afterward. Iownedit. But she’s acting like I burned our whole life to the ground overonemistake.”

Dr. Adler tilted her head. “Why do you think she sees it that way?”

James’s jaw tightened. His voice dropped lower, harder. “Because she’s overreacting. It’s not like I wasin lovewith someone else. I didn’t start some affair. It was just...sex.”

His words echoed back at him.

Just sex.

Dr. Adler’s pen stopped moving. “James, can I ask—why did you cheat?”

James blinked. “What?”

“Why was it a mistake? Because she found out? Or because you regretted it afterward?”

The question made his stomach twist.

“I—” He hesitated, then shrugged, defensive. “Because it was. I married my high school girlfriend. Myonlygirlfriend. We’ve been together since we were kids. Is it really so crazy that after almost two decades, I might getcurious?”

His voice picked up, hotter now, the words tumbling out faster.

“I mean, my friend’s been on those apps for years. He makes it sound like every guy out there gets to live this...thisfantasy—hooking up with women whenever they want, no strings. And I was supposed to just...never wonder what that would be like? To be with someone else?That’s normal.”

Dr. Adler stayed silent, watching him carefully.

James exhaled hard, the tension coiling tighter.

“I wasn’t trying to hurt Kate. IloveKate. But I’ve never gotten to experience anything else. It wasn’t some grand betrayal—it was justonetime. And I didn’t evenlike it.”

His voice cracked, frustration thick.

“I just needed to get it out of my system. I thought if I did it once, I could move on and be better. I wasn’t planning to throw my marriage away over it.”

Dr. Adler folded her hands, her expression still too calm for how tangled he felt inside. “But you didn’t tell her. You kept it from her until she found out, correct?”

His stomach twisted again. He should tell Dr. Adler that he hadn’t had the chance to keep it from Kate. That she had been there. She had been in the room when he had been inside another woman.

He couldn’t. He couldn’t bring himself to relive that moment, the pain on Kate’s face.

“That’s not the point. I told her the truth. And now she’s punishing me for it. She took the kids away, she’s freezing me out. She acts like I’m some...somemonsterbecause I was curious about something perfectly natural.”

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