A wife's young son accidentally revealed that a mysterious woman had been visiting their bedroom while she was at work. Convinced her husband was hiding an affair, she set out to uncover the truth. What did she discover?
The house was still when I stood at the foot of our bed, folding a pile of Leo's tiny T-shirts. On the dresser, my mother's silk scarf lay coiled like a sleeping cat, still faintly holding the scent of her jasmine perfume three months after we buried her.
I lifted it to my face and breathed in, quick, before I could stop myself.
"Mommy, are you crying again?"
Leo stood in the doorway in mismatched socks, one blue, one striped, holding a juice box like a trophy.
"No, baby. Just smelling Grandma."
"Grandma smells like flowers."
"She does."
He padded in and climbed onto the bed, and I noticed it again. A smudge of silver paint on the side of his thumb, dried and flaking, and another streak crusted along his elbow that I could have sworn wasn't there when I'd bathed him last night.
"Leo, what is this?"
"Paint."
"I can see it's paint. From where?"
"Art class," Mark called from the hallway, appearing behind him with a coffee in one hand and his phone in the other. "The teacher's been doing a whole galaxy unit this week. Stars, planets, the works."
He gave me that smile. Small, private, the corners of his mouth tucked in as if he was holding something he did not want to spill.
"It looks stubborn. Doesn't it wash off?"
"You know how he is in the tub. Splashes everywhere except on himself."
"I did!" Leo shouted, then bounced off the bed and ran for the stairs.
Mark leaned in and kissed my forehead, quick, warm.
"You look tired, Ket."
"I'm fine."
"Our anniversary is in three days. Ten years. Are we doing something or are you going to keep pretending you forgot?"
"I haven't forgotten."
"Good."
He glanced at his phone again, that same soft smile, and slipped it into his back pocket before I could see the screen.
"I have to run out for an hour," he said. "Errand."
"On a Wednesday morning? Don't you have work?"
"Boring one. Promise."
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