Chapter 3

"Why didn't you reply to my messages? I sent you so many, asking if you were coming home for dinner, and you couldn't even bother to respond to one."

"You don't answer calls, you don't reply to texts. Chloe, how dare you ask *me* why I made so much food for myself?!"

I rarely yelled at her by her full name, and she knew I was truly furious this time.

Her face went pale. She pulled out her phone, a look that might have been guilt, or perhaps relief at finding a new excuse, flashing across her features.

"My phone died. That's why I didn't see any messages."

"Liam, you know I didn't do it on purpose."

Bullshit, I knew!

"You had time to shop at the mall, but no time to charge your phone? Your phone had enough battery to pay at the checkout, but not enough to call me back?"

"You always have so many excuses! Just look at the past few days – have you honestly bothered to read any of my messages?"

"You clearly don't care about me! So who *do* you care about? Tell me, who was that person you went to see at the hospital today?"

"Don't think I don't know, Chloe. None of your 'besties' have been in the hospital lately, I know that for a fact."

It seemed I had hit a nerve. She stiffened, her voice defiant as she shot back.

"My friend was hurt, and I went to see him at the hospital – what's it to you? I married *you*, I didn't become your puppet, expected to obey your every command!"

"I have my own life too! I can't revolve around you every single day!"

"Besides, you don't even believe me anyway! Otherwise, why would you secretly follow me to the hospital?"

She clearly hadn't read my messages. She hadn't seen me tell her I went to the hospital because of my back pain.

Right. All my rambling, unanswered messages were just a burden to her, I guess.

By a cruel twist of fate, if I hadn't hit my back yesterday, I might never have known she had run off to the hospital so early in the morning.

"I wasn't following you to the hospital! How many times do I have to tell you I'm not a stalker—"

She cut me off, rubbing her temples wearily. "Forget it. We're both too upset right now. Let's talk about it properly when we've both calmed down."

The front door slammed shut. I had no idea where she could possibly go at this hour.

At eight in the evening, the dinner I'd cooked lay mostly untouched. I picked at a few bites before dumping the rest into the trash.

Chloe had blocked my number and all my social media. I couldn't reach her, so as a last resort, I called her friends.

My neighborhood was pretty isolated. It wasn't safe for a woman to be out alone so late.

But from eight to nine, I called a dozen or so friends, and every single one said they had no idea where she was.

Where else could she possibly be at this late hour? I was just about to throw on a jacket and go look for her when I received a text from my buddy, Jake.

**[Hey man, why are you in the hospital? Everything alright?]**

My mind raced with questions. Who was hospitalized? I'd hurt my back, but it wasn't serious enough to be admitted.

**[?]** I texted back a question mark. Jake immediately responded with one of his own.

**[Wait, dude, you're *not* in the hospital? Then who the hell is with Chloe? I was about to go say hello to you both.]**

**[But my wife was rushing me, so I didn't even get a chance to say hi.]**

**[Good thing I didn't say hi, or I don't know how awkward it would have been.]**