CHAPTER 17
No Secrets
The rule came from Elise.
Not in bed, where rules could become promises too easily. Not in the car, where rain and adrenaline had made everything feel cinematic. She said it the next morning at the dining table with her hair tied up, her laptop open, and two untouched pieces of toast cooling on a plate between them.
"No secrets," she said.
Daniel lowered his coffee. "Agreed."
"I mean it. Not even little ones. Not even thoughts we are embarrassed by."
He almost smiled. "That may be a long meeting."
"Good."
Her seriousness sobered him. The fantasy of Marcus was easy in flashes: a hallway, a hand at Elise's back, a voice cutting through the rain. Marriage was harder. Marriage required schedules, language, repair, the ability to say ugly things before they curdled into resentment.
Daniel opened a blank note on his phone. "Rules, then."
Elise's eyebrows lifted. "You are making a list?"
"I make lists when I am terrified."
That earned a real smile.
They wrote carefully. No secrets. No separate contact.
Either of them could stop the conversation at any time.
Nothing physical without another discussion first. No pretending jealousy did not exist. No using Marcus to win an argument.
No punishing each other for honest feelings.
No alcohol before decisions. No performance for anyone else.
No forgetting that the marriage came first.
When Daniel typed the last rule, Elise touched his wrist. "Add one more."
"What?"
"You have to tell me what you want, not just what you can survive."
He looked at the screen until the words blurred.
"Daniel."
"I want to watch you be brave," he said.
Elise became very still.
He forced himself to continue. "I want to see the version of you that appeared in that hallway. Not because I am not enough. Not because you are not mine. Because I think there is something in you I have been too careful to wake up."
Her eyes shone. "And him?"
Daniel swallowed. "I want him to know he was right about me."
"Awake."
"Yes."
Elise looked down at the list. "I want to feel chosen by you while someone else wants me."
The honesty went through him like heat under glass.
"You are chosen," he said.
"Then do not hide while choosing me."
He understood. Not permission thrown from a distance. Not silent suffering dressed up as sophistication. If they took even one more step, Elise wanted his presence, his voice, his ownership of the choice.
Daniel picked up Marcus's card from beside the salt bowl. They had placed it there deliberately the night before, where neither of them could pretend it had vanished.
"Together?" he asked.
Elise reached for her phone and set it between them. "Together."
The first message took twenty minutes to compose and contained nothing that would sound dangerous to anyone who found it: Thank you for meeting us. We would like to continue the conversation, within the boundaries discussed. Are you available this week?
Daniel read it aloud. Elise made him change one word. He made her remove an apology.
Then they sent it from a group thread with both their names visible.
Marcus replied nine minutes later.
Thursday. 8 p.m. My office is private, quiet, and secure. You both decide whether that feels appropriate. No pressure.
Elise exhaled as if she had been underwater.
Daniel stared at the message for a long time, feeling fear and anticipation braid together until neither could be separated from the other.
No secrets, he reminded himself.
Then he looked at his wife and told the truth. "I want to go."