The door opened.
"Did you leave something here? Hang on, I'll grab..."
The last word caught in Nicole's throat.
We hadn't seen each other in four years. She had gotten thinner, and the skin under her eyes carried the blue-gray bruise of a hangover. Her hair was a mess, and her pajama collar sat crooked on her shoulder. She looked so good that my chest hurt.
What I had rehearsed on the way over was simple. I would apologize first, explain second, and then open up four years of accounts and settle them line by line. Half of that speech burned away when I saw the back of that man downstairs, and the rest of it burned to ash when I saw the couch.
"Did he stay here last night?" I heard my own voice come out, and it was hoarse past recognition.
She didn't answer. I stepped past her into th
