Chapter 1 - The Fan Cam
The Fan Cam caught my husband with his arm around another woman while she wore the jacket I had bought him, and then he bent his head and kissed her hair in front of an entire stadium. Daniel had no idea that within minutes, the secret he thought was safely hidden would be staring straight back at him from across the stands. And somehow, watching him hold her on a forty-foot screen still wasn’t the most shocking thing I was about to discover.
The crowd was screaming.
“Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!”
I couldn’t breathe.
Three sections away, Daniel sat beside a woman I had never seen before.
But I knew the jacket wrapped around her shoulders.
Dark navy.
High collar.
Thin gray stripe along the zipper.
And that tiny white mark near the left pocket where I had accidentally brushed it against our garage wall.
I had bought that jacket for Daniel.
Wrapped it myself.
Watched him open it on Christmas morning.
“Perfect,” he had said before leaning across the coffee table to kiss me.
Now another woman was wearing it.
And my husband had his arm around her waist.
For one insane second, I tried to explain it away.
Maybe she was a coworker.
Maybe she was cold.
Maybe the camera operator had misunderstood what they were.
Maybe I had misunderstood.
Then Daniel slid his arm around her shoulders.
Pulled her against his chest.
And kissed the top of her head.
Slowly.
Tenderly.
Exactly the way he had kissed me more times than I could count.
The stadium exploded with cheers.
Beside me, my sister Rachel grabbed my wrist.
“Oh my God.”
I didn’t answer.
My hands had gone numb.
The Fan Cam moved on.
The race continued.
Engines screamed around the track while the entire world carried on as if mine hadn’t just split open above me.
I reached into my bag and pulled out my phone.
My fingers shook as I called Daniel.
Three sections away, I watched him reach into his pocket.
He looked at his screen.
And declined my call.
That hurt almost as much as the kiss.
Rachel whispered, “Do you want me to go over there?”
“No.”
I stared at Daniel.
The woman was still wearing his jacket.
So I opened our text thread.
His last message from that morning was still there.
Don’t forget milk if you pass the store.
So ordinary.
So married.
I typed something.
Deleted it.
Typed again.
Deleted that too.
Then I looked at the woman in his jacket and finally wrote the only sentence I needed.
Your jacket looks good on her.
Send.
Daniel’s phone was already in his hand.
He looked down.
And even from that far away, I saw his whole body change.
His shoulders went rigid.
His head snapped up.
He looked behind him.
Then left.
Then right.
His phone rang in my hand.
DANIEL.
I let it ring.
Rachel stared at me.
“You’re not answering?”
“No.”
He called again.
I declined it.
Then Daniel started scanning the stands.
For seven years, I had known exactly how my husband looked when he was searching for me in a crowded room.
His eyes moved quickly.
His chin lifted slightly.
And every other time, he smiled when he found me.
This time, he looked terrified.
Then his gaze landed on me.
Across the stadium, our eyes met.
Daniel went completely still.
I didn’t wave.
I didn’t cry.
I didn’t look away.
I just held his stare.
The woman beside him noticed.
She followed his line of sight until her eyes found mine.
Then she looked at Daniel.
Back at me.
And said something that made his expression change.
A second later, Daniel stood.
May you like
Then she stood too.
And when she stepped into the aisle behind my husband and started coming toward me, she was still wearing his jacket.
