Page 16 of Fault Lines
“Please?” More pleading than I’d meant to show. “Just try a few sessions before we do… this?”
He shook his head. “I know how this sounds, but you’ll get used to it. We’ll have more time together; I’ll treat you better. You’ll see.”
“So there’s no point in arguing.”
“No,” he said, and I believed him.
He dug into his lasagna, but I couldn’t eat. My appetite was gone. Instead, I pulled out the notebook.
“Rachel helped with the rule list.”
He took it, read through, and nodded. “Most of these look fine.”
“Except?”
“Kissing. I just—I don’t see the point in sex without it.”
My heart thumped hard behind my ribs.
“It won’t mean anything, baby. It’s mechanical.”
I didn’t want to argue. “Any others?”
He looked again. “No Lacey?”
“Absolutely not. If it’s her, I’m done.”
He nodded, eyes serious. “Alright. No Lacey. But you don’t have to worry, Livi. No matter what happens, I’m never falling for someone else. You’re the only one for me.”
“It doesn’t feel that way when you tell me you need other women to be happy.”
He exhaled, and his shoulders slumped. “It’ll make sense once things are better. I just need a push to feel normal again.”
I wanted to shout that I deserved a faithful husband. But this was the most he’d talked to me in months, and I couldn’t risk breaking the fragile thread between us.
He reviewed the rest of the rules. “One night a week? Thursdays, maybe. That way we have weekends to ourselves.”
“Fine,” I said. I couldn’t muster any enthusiasm.
He hesitated over one-night stands.
“That part’s non-negotiable,” I said.
He tried to reason with me, his CEO mind ticking away. “It’s actually safer for me to have a regular. Less chance of being found out, less chance of blackmail.”
“Wow, you’ve really thought this through,” I deadpanned.
He ignored me. “It’s best for my job. So if I find someone discreet, it’s only her until I move on. Fewer people involved.”
I felt a numbness settling into my bones.
“How long will this last?” I asked.
He shook his head. “I don’t know. I’ll stop as soon as it feels right.”
And there it was—the truth of it. No true end in sight. But I’d have to go along, or lose him altogether.
“And what if I meet someone and catch feelings? What then?”
