Chapter 2
LAINA
Isank back into my chair as Bennett walked toward the stage, the residual warmth of his kiss still lingering on my lips. My heart felt full to the point of aching. I was so proud of my husband.
The energy in the ballroom was electric, with many people getting to their feet to clap Bennett on the back as he passed them.
Sitting down, I smoothed the soft fabric of my burgundy gown over my lap as my gaze followed him.
Even from this distance, he looked every bit the man I had fallen in love with years ago.
Tall and lean, with wavy brown hair he’d let grow out to his shoulders a few years ago.
He’d trimmed his beard for tonight, which hid his square jawline.
As he took the stage, his vibrant blue eyes scanned the crowd, and I got to be the one who had always believed he would end up here.
I felt so lucky. After all these years, he still reached for me first.
I settled deeper into my seat, my hands folded loosely in my lap, and waited for him to begin speaking, a quiet smile curving my lips.
Bennett’s voice carried easily through the speakers as he began the expected thank-yous. He named the cast, the crew, the network executives who had believed in the show from the start.
Watching my husband give his acceptance speech, I was so proud he was finally getting the recognition he deserved.
“Thank you to Laina for always being my inspiration.”
My smile widened, and I pressed my hand over my heart.
But then he added, “I wouldn’t have been able to write Sally’s character without knowing all your quirks so well.”
It took a moment for the meaning behind his words to register. The character from his show who America loved to make fun of had been inspired by me, and I’d had no clue.
The energy in the room shifted as the warm smiles of the people around me faded. Charlotte Graham, the actress who played Sally, let out a nervous cough. The rest of the table exchanged uncomfortable glances.
I sat very still.
Bennett was weird about watching The Wrong Side of Right at home, so I wasn’t as familiar with the show as most people would expect. But I’d seen the jokes about the character the internet loved to laugh at. The one viewers mocked without mercy.
The edges of the room began to blur, and my chest felt so tight, it was hard to draw a full breath.
He’d said it so casually. As if he didn’t realize he’d just announced to the entire world that I was the living source of every joke they had laughed at for four seasons.
Bennett held the award high for a photo op, somehow completely unaware of how the atmosphere in the room had changed.
For the first time since we’d met, I felt the ground under my life give way.
I sat frozen as a woman who had just congratulated me a few minutes ago now avoided my eyes.
Charlotte looked like she wanted the floor to open up beneath her.
A producer who worked with Bennett kept glancing between me and the stage, then quickly away again, as if he had just realized he was sitting next to the real-life punchline.
Heat crawled up the back of my neck. My gown suddenly felt too tight, as though every person in the ballroom could see straight through it to the humiliation underneath.
Bennett would be backstage soon for the usual press pictures and interviews. It would be a while before he returned to the table. Long enough for me to leave without having to face him in front of all these people.
I stood slowly, smoothing my dress with hands that weren’t quite steady. No one at the table tried to stop me. A few offered tight, pitying smiles. Most simply looked relieved that I was removing the awkwardness from their immediate space.
I walked without rushing, my eyes fixed on the distant exit. The room felt longer than it had when we arrived. But I kept moving until the heavy ballroom doors closed behind me, and I let myself draw a full, shaking breath.
A security guard near the exit recognized me and stepped forward without a word. He guided me through the remaining hallway and out into the cool night air, then opened the rear door of a waiting Town Car. I slid onto the leather seat, and the door closed behind me.
The driver pulled away from the venue. As city lights slid past the tinted windows in long, blurred streaks, I stared straight ahead with my hands clenched in my lap. I felt the horror expand inside my chest with every block that passed.
The pressure made it difficult to sit still, but I needed space where no one could see me when everything finally broke open.
The ride felt like it took forever. By the time the car turned onto our street, the need for privacy had become almost desperate. I could not fall apart here. Not in the back of this car, while the driver could glance in the rearview mirror and watch me come undone.
I needed to be alone, so I didn’t waste any time.
As soon as the car pulled into our drive, I flung the door open and climbed out.
Racing up the front steps, I stepped into the house and leaned against the door after shutting it behind me.
The familiar scent of home wrapped around me, but it offered none of the usual comfort. Or the privacy I so desperately needed.
Lucy was in the living room, curled into the corner of the couch with her phone in her hands. When she looked up, her eyes met mine with surprise. “You’re home early.”
I didn’t answer. I couldn’t find the words yet.
She studied my face, then set her phone in her lap. “Did you leave because of what Dad said in his acceptance speech?”
It wasn’t just the entire industry who had just watched Bennett humiliate me; the person I loved most after him had as well.
Straightening, I asked, “How do you already know about that?”
“It’s like you have no clue how this town works,” she mumbled with a roll of her eyes. “Clips of the Sally part are already all over the internet.”
“No,” I gasped, pressing trembling fingers to my lips.
“Here.” She got up and shoved her phone into my hand. “See for yourself.”
The video she showed me already had hundreds of thousands of views, and the comments were all brutal. But the situation only got worse because the last thing I expected when I came home was for my daughter to add to my devastation.
“The way Dad put you on blast wasn’t cool, but he’s right.”
It shouldn’t be possible for your heart to break twice in one night, but my husband and Lucy had stomped mine to smithereens. I wasn’t sure how I could survive the pain.
The last solid piece inside me gave way. My own daughter had looked at my public humiliation and sided with her father. She thought I was the punchline too.
I couldn’t stay in this house. Not while my daughter’s words hung in the air between us, and my husband would be home sooner than I’d be ready to face him.
Lucy was standing in front of me, waiting for a reaction I couldn’t give her. I handed her phone back without looking at the screen again and turned toward the stairs.
My legs felt unsteady as I climbed them.
When I reached our bedroom, I moved on pure instinct—opening the closet, pulling a rolling carry-on bag from the top shelf, and filling it with the first clothes my hands found.
Panties and bras, a couple of pairs of jeans, two soft sweaters and matching T-shirts to go beneath them, pajamas, and the toiletries I would need for a night or two.
I didn’t allow myself to look at the framed photos on the dresser. Or the bed where Bennett had woken me up with kisses this morning.
When the suitcase was closed, I tore a page from the pad of paper on my bedside table and wrote only four words.
I need some time.
I left the note on his pillow.
Downstairs, Lucy had returned to the couch. She didn’t even look up from her phone as I came down the stairs and walked past her into the kitchen. I didn’t speak since there was nothing left to say that wouldn’t make the night worse.
Heading straight to my car in the garage, I waited until the house grew smaller in the rearview mirror before I finally let the first tears fall.