Page 51 of Hold Still

I wrap my arms around my middle, unable to believe I slept with a married man. And nearly did it again. “Tell me the rest.” I can’t bring myself to say her name or her title.

“At that point, my life consisted of touring and trying to connect with Teresa. I didn’t go to after-parties longer than I had to.” His voice drops. “I didn’t sleep with anyone but her.”

My mouth falls open. I do a quick calculation—he’s talking about years ago. I hooked up with him for the first time a couple of years back.

“Finally, I got another three-day break and headed to Puerto Rico, expecting a repeat performance from the last time. I wanted to lose myself in my wife.”

He shakes his head and the needles attacking my heart turn into little hammers of warning.

“I caught an earlier flight and got to the hotel sooner than anticipated. I rushed into the room, only to find it already was occupied. By Teresa and Luis.” He stops talking.

I tap my fingers together. “They were friends from the early days.”

“Not like this they weren’t.”

“Oh!” My hand flies to my face. My heart breaks for him.

His voice turns hard. Like the shards of glass at mom’s feet this morning. “Turns out, he’d been screwing my wife behind my back for months.”

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