Page 392 of The Sinner: James

“What seems to be the problem?” I ask in a soft voice, closing the door behind me.

She spins around in the middle of the room, her hands clasped on her hips. They go up in the air before clutching her hips again.

“I don’t know. You tell me. You’re so damn good at reading women.”

My lips curl into a slow smile.

“This is serious, James.”

“I have no doubt.”

“What did Ed say to you when you were with him in his room?”

I set my phone down, remove my tie, and unfasten a few buttons.

“The same thing you’ve heard at the dinner table.”

She grits her teeth.

“What else did he tell you?”

“What you’ve heard at the dinner table,” I say again, emphasizing the words, arguably pissing her off even more.

“Are you talking about what you said when you were on the phone with Thea?”

“We’re talking about the same thing,” I say calmly.

I lean against a wall table and slowly fold my arms across my chest.

“Why couldn’t you tell me first?” she shoots at me, her eyes beaming with anger.

“I’d learned about it only a few hours before you. And you learned about it at the table. What’s the problem, Rain?” I ask seriously.

“If Ed comes back, someone needs to take his place, at least for a while.”

“That would be me.”

“How? Tell me how. You spend most of your time on airplanes, and I don’t see you for days or weeks sometimes.”

Her eyes spew flames, a frown creasing her brow.

“Is that what the problem is? You... missing me?”

She studies me before huffing, frustrated, her hands jerking up in the air.

“You know what... Forget about it,” she says, kicking her heels off. “If I need to explain what your absence means to me, and we have to argue about it every time it happens, there’s no point in discussing it with you.”

“It has nothing to do with us or you.”

She spins around.

“It has everything to do with me. I’m the one waiting for you, James,” she says, pointing to her chest. “We are the only ones living apart.”

“For now. It’s not going to be permanent. You know that.”

“Oh, I know. Of course, I do. You know what else I know?” she tosses at me while struggling to unzip her dress.

“You need help?” I ask, pushing off the table.

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