Her Husband's Secret Affair with His Assistant (Her Marriage in Crisis #46)

1. Haley

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Haley

Five years of marriage, and I was sitting alone in a hotel suite wondering if my husband had forgotten what day it was.

“I can’t believe you managed to snag a room there.” Megan’s voice crackled through my phone speaker as I held up two different pairs of earrings to my reflection, tilting my head left, then right.

“There’s a chandelier hanging over the toilet, Meg. It’s so fucking over the top that I can’t even.” I set down the earrings and checked the time. Seven-fifteen. Caleb was supposed to be here at seven. “I’m genuinely afraid it’s going to fall and impale me while I pee.”

“That’s exactly how I want to die, honestly.” She laughed. “Killed by a toilet chandelier in a hotel I could never afford. They’d have to put it in my obituary. Megan Davis, dead at twenty-eight, murdered by interior design.”

“You’re twenty-eight for another three months, so maybe hold off on writing that obituary.” I walked to the window and pressed my forehead against the glass, watching the city sprawl beneath me. “And the bed is ridiculous. You could fit eight people on it comfortably. Ten if they were friendly.”

“Is that an invitation? Because Daniel and I have been looking for ways to spice things up.” Her voice dropped into that teasing register she’d perfected over fifteen years of friendship.

“Speaking of spicing things up, where’s your husband?

Shouldn’t he be there by now, ripping that dress off you with his teeth? ”

“He’s running late.” I pulled back from the window and caught my own reflection.

The red dress looked good. The makeup looked good. Everything looked good except for the tight feeling in my chest. “Fifteen minutes so far, but I’m sure he’s just stuck in traffic.”

“Haley, it’s your fifth anniversary,” Megan said. “He knows how much tonight means to you. You’ve been planning this for weeks.”

“I know what I’ve been planning, Meg.” I sat down on the edge of the bed and pressed my free hand against my thigh, trying to stop it from bouncing. “And I know what day it is. I don’t need you to remind me.”

“I’m not trying to remind you of anything except that you deserve a husband who shows up on time.” She paused. “Has he been doing this a lot lately? The running late thing?”

“He’s busy with work.” The excuse came out automatically, the same way it had been coming out for months. “The Sinclair business doesn’t run itself, and Caleb handles all the client-facing stuff. You know how demanding that can be.”

“I know how demanding you’ve been telling me it is. I also know that James works at the same company and somehow manages to show up places when he says he will.”

“James doesn’t have the same responsibilities Caleb does.

” I stood up and walked back to the window, needing to move.

“And I didn’t call you to talk about my husband’s schedule.

I called you because I’m sitting in a hotel room with a toilet chandelier and I needed someone to appreciate how absurd that is. ”

“Fine, I’ll drop it.” She didn’t sound like she wanted to drop it, but she did anyway. “Call me tomorrow and tell me everything. I want to know every position, every sound effect, every moment where you thought the chandelier might fall on your heads.”

“You’re disgusting and I love you.” I smiled despite myself, feeling some of the tightness in my chest ease.

“He’ll show up.” She said it firmly, like she was trying to convince both of us. “He’s an idiot sometimes, but he loves you. He’ll show up.”

I hung up and tossed the phone onto the bed. Seven-twenty. Seven-twenty-five. Seven-thirty.

The champagne was sweating in its bucket. The roses were starting to droop in their vase. I paced the length of the room, my heels sinking into the carpet, and tried Vanessa’s number. The line was busy. I tried Caleb’s cell and it went straight to voicemail.

I picked up my phone and called James.

“Haley, happy anniversary.” His voice was relaxed when he answered, unhurried. “I figured you’d be three glasses of champagne deep by now, celebrating half a decade of tolerating my brother.”

“That was the plan, but your brother seems to have forgotten we had one.” The minute I said those words, I regretted it.

Why am I airing my dirty laundry to James? He didn’t need to know this.

“I can’t reach him, James. His phone keeps going to voicemail, and Vanessa’s line has been busy for an hour. I was hoping you might know if he’s still at the office.”

“You can’t reach him at all? When was the last time you talked to him?”

“This afternoon, around three.” I closed my eyes and tried to remember the conversation. “He said he had a client meeting that might run long, but he promised he’d be at the hotel by seven. That was almost an hour ago.”

“Okay, let me check if he’s still here.” I heard him moving. “I’m walking to his office now. Give me a minute.”

“Thank you, James. I’m sorry to bother you with this. I know it’s Friday night and you probably have better things to do than track down your brother for his paranoid wife.”

“You’re not paranoid, Haley.” His voice was gentle, and it made my throat tight.

“He didn’t stand me up.”

“His office is empty. Looks like he’s already left.”

“So he’s on his way.” I felt something loosen in my chest, relief flooding through me. “He probably just got stuck in traffic. You know how bad the roads can get on Friday nights.”

“Probably.” James didn’t sound convinced, but he didn’t push. “I’ll text you if I hear anything. And Haley? Happy anniversary. I hope the rest of your night is better than the beginning.”

I hung up and stared at my phone. A minute later, his text came through.

James: Looks like he just left, should be on his way soon.

Haley: Thanks again, James. I owe you one.

James: You don’t owe me anything. Just try to enjoy your night.

I set the phone down and waited.

Caleb walked through the door a few minutes later.

I heard the keycard in the lock and stood up, smoothing down the front of my dress. The door swung open and there he was, still in his work suit, tie loosened, hair slightly disheveled. He looked tired. He looked irritated. He did not look like a man walking into his anniversary celebration.

“I’ve been sitting here for over an hour, Caleb.” I kept my voice steady, but I could feel it wanting to shake. “I had to call your brother to find out if you were still at the office.”

“You called James?” His face changed immediately, his jaw going tight.

“You called my little brother to check up on me like I’m some kind of child who can’t be trusted to manage his own schedule?”

“I called your brother because you weren’t answering your phone and I was worried something had happened to you.”

I felt tears burning behind my eyes and blinked them back.

“My phone died.” He tossed his jacket onto the chair and started loosening his tie the rest of the way.

“You’re here an hour and fifteen minutes late, and you smell like someone else’s perfume.”

Caleb stopped moving. His hands froze on his tie.

“The client meeting was at a restaurant, and one of the clients hugged me when we closed the deal.” He pulled the tie over his head and dropped it on top of his jacket.

“She’s a sixty-three-year-old grandmother who wears too much perfume.

I’m sorry if her scent offended your delicate sensibilities. ”

“And the cigarette smoke?” I crossed my arms over my chest, hugging myself. “You smell like you’ve been sitting in a bar for the past three hours, Caleb. You don’t smoke. You’ve never smoked. So where exactly were you?”

“I was doing my job, Haley. I was bringing money into our family business. I’m sorry that required me to be in the same room as people who have habits you don’t approve of.”

“That’s not what I’m saying and you know it.” I felt a tear slip down my cheek and wiped it away angrily.

He crossed the room toward me, his expression softening. “I said I was sorry, Haley. What else do you want from me?”

“I want you to mean it.” My voice cracked, and I hated how weak I sounded. “I want you to look at me and actually see me, instead of looking through me like I’m just another item on your to-do list.”

He stopped in front of me, close enough that I could see the lines of exhaustion around his eyes. His hands came up to cup my face, his thumbs brushing away the tears on my cheeks.

“I see you, baby.” His voice was low, soft.

“I see you standing there in that incredible dress, looking more beautiful than you have any right to look, and I see that I fucked up tonight. I should have called. I should have found a way to let you know I was running late. I should have been here, and I wasn’t, and I’m sorry. ”

“You’ve been doing this a lot lately.” I let myself lean into his touch, even though part of me wanted to pull away. “I feel like I’m losing you, Caleb.”

“You’re not losing me. Work has been insane, and I’ve been letting it take over everything, but that’s going to change. I promise you, Haley. That’s going to change.”

“I want to believe you.” I closed my eyes, letting myself sink into the familiarity of his arms around me. “I want to believe that everything is going to be okay.”

“Everything is going to be okay.” He kissed me then, soft at first, then deeper.

This was what worked between us. This was what had always worked, even when everything else felt uncertain. His hands on my skin. His mouth on mine. The way my body responded to him even when my mind was full of questions.

He walked me backward toward the bed, his fingers finding the zipper at the back of my dress. The fabric pooled at my feet. His shirt followed. And then we were skin against skin, and I stopped thinking about perfume and smoke and unanswered phone calls.

He laid me down on the expensive sheets and took his time with me, his mouth tracing a path down my body that he’d memorized years ago.

When he finally pushed inside me, I wrapped my legs around his waist and pulled him closer.

Afterward, we lay tangled together in the ruined sheets. His arm was draped across my stomach, heavy.

“Happy anniversary,” he murmured against my shoulder.

“Happy anniversary.” I closed my eyes and let his warmth seep into me.

I fell asleep with his arms around me.

***

The rustling woke me.

I blinked into the darkness, disoriented. The room was cold, and when I reached across the bed, Caleb’s side was empty. Then I heard it.

I lay perfectly still, barely breathing. Through the crack in the bathroom door, I could see the faint glow of his phone screen. He was pacing, speaking quietly.

My heart started pounding.

I slid out of bed as slowly as I could, my bare feet silent on the carpet. The bathroom door was cracked open an inch, maybe two. I pressed myself against the wall beside it and listened.

“I know it’s complicated, but you have to give me more time.” His voice was tired, frustrated. “I can’t just make her disappear because it’s convenient for you.”

Silence. Whoever was on the other end was talking.

“Yeah, I hear you.” He exhaled heavily. “But I can’t just leave her. Not yet. Not like this.”

The words hit me like a blow to the chest.

I pressed my hand over my mouth to keep from making any sound. My whole body had gone cold.

I heard him murmur something else, too quiet to catch. Then the soft beep of a call ending.

I scrambled back to the bed, pulling the sheets up, forcing my eyes closed. The mattress dipped as he climbed back in.

He didn’t reach for me.