My mood quickly vanishes the moment I step into work and Lucinda calls me over. She looks panicked, waving her hands at me in a hurried gesture. Heart beating, I walk up to her desk. She stands up and leans toward me. “Your husband has been calling every ten minutes for the last forty minutes. He said you weren’t answering your phone. I just thought I had better warn you. He sounded a little manic, to be honest.”

Closing my eyes on a sigh, my heart races at the thought of Kyle’s reaction once I call him. Maybe it’s an emergency. I have to find out.

As I pull my phone out of my pocket, I glance at Lucinda. “Thank you. I’m sorry you had to deal with that. I better call him.”

I swiftly walk toward my desk. When I walk past Sally, she looks up and notices my panicked state. She gets up and walks over.

I glance down at my phone and see I have ten missed calls and seven texts. Swiftly sifting through them, I can tell he’s pissed.

“Shit,” I utter under my breath.

“What’s going on, Alice?”

I sigh. “I was at lunch with Ethan. We were talking so much about the baby, time just ran away with us. Kyle called several times, obviously wondering where the hell I am...” I move forward in my chair, whispering, “I can’t tell him where I’ve been. He’ll flip.”

Sally’s eyes widen. “Why? You’re not doing anything wrong. Sarah knew about this, right?”

“Yes. She was actually supposed to be there, but had an appointment.”

She looks defiant when she states, “Well, then, that’s your answer. Plus, you’re planning to have his baby. It’s only natural that you need to see them both to talk it through. It’s not your fault Sarah wasn’t there.”

“Ethan invited her, but she obviously couldn’t make it.”

“What’s the problem then?”

I close my eyes, wondering if I should reveal everything to Sally. For some reason, I feel I can. It’s strange because I’ve always held back from Sarah, and she’s my best friend.

“My husband is a little...possessive, shall we say?”

Sally shakes her head, about to answer when my phone rings again. “I have to take this,” I say, knowing who it is without even looking. I press the button to answer the call.

He starts before I even say hello. “Where the fuck have you been? I’ve been trying to call you for nearly an hour. Why weren’t you picking up your phone?”

Flustered, heat rises to my cheeks. “I’m sorry. I was out to lunch and didn’t hear the phone.”

“You were gone for over an hour. Why weren’t you back in time? What were you doing? Who were you with?”

Hearing him shouting, Sally tugs at my arm, pointing to herself. “Say you were at lunch with me,” she whispers. I shake my head. This is my mess, so I won’t get her involved in it. She pulls at my jumper sleeve again. With an angry expression on her face, she points to me and then herself. We went to lunch together, she mouths.

“Alice, are you there? What the fuck’s going on?”

“Um… Sorry, Kyle. I’m at work and just got distracted. I went to lunch with Sally. I haven’t had a good conversation with her in a while, so we just lost track of time.”

I hear him sigh in frustration. “You only went to lunch with Sally?”

Now it’s my turn to sigh. “Yes... Kyle, what’s going on? You’re never normally this uptight. Is something wrong?” His attitude is getting on my last nerve.

“No. I just want to know where my fucking wife is. Is that too much to fucking ask? What if you had been run over by a bus? What if I had been? The least you could have done is make sure you answer your phone.”

I hear a loud thump over the phone, which makes me jump. I glance up at Sally. Her lips are in a thin line as she shakes her head.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to ignore your calls. We were having so much fun, time quickly ran away with me.” I close my eyes. I feel like a shit for lying, and an even bigger shit for involving Sally.

“Okay, fine. Listen, I have to go. I’m sorry I shouted at you, but I got worried when you didn’t answer and work didn’t know where you were.”

I feel myself relax a little at the change of tone in his voice. All of a sudden, he’s nice Kyle again. “That’s okay. I honestly didn’t do it on purpose. Next time, I promise to keep my phone out so I can hear it when it rings.”

I hear him sigh again. “Good. Listen, I’ll see you later on tonight. Sarah is coming over, right?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, I’ll see you then. I won’t be out long because I’m driving.”

I try to smile. “You obviously don’t want to damage your ‘baby’.”

Kyle laughs. “No. I can’t have anything bad happen to her, so only one, maybe two drinks for me. I’ll see you later, baby.”

“Okay. Love you.”

I hear the smile in his voice. “I love you, too. More than you’ll ever know.”

He ends the call. As I press the button on my phone, my shoulders relax.

“Honey, he’s off the charts. Are you okay?” Sally places a hand on my shoulder.

I look up at her with a smile. “Yes, thanks. He’s just been a little...I don’t know…off lately. I’m sure it’s just a phase.”

I can tell she doesn’t like my answer. “Alice, people like that don’t normally have phases. They only get worse.” She rubs my shoulder tenderly. When our boss walks through, she stands from my desk. “I’d better get back to work,” she whispers.

She walks off, leaving me with her words running through my head. Over the last few weeks, Kyle has gotten worse. He has some good days, but when the bad days come, they come hard. There never seems to be an in between with him.

Blowing out a breath, I get back to work. It’s a good distraction from my life.

The next couple hours fly by. Once it’s time to go home, I feel a lot better. I watch Sally clear off her desk for the night. When she spots me looking, she smiles, grabs her bag, and walks over.

“Fancy going out for real this time? That’ll give him something to really get pissed off about.” She smirks as she sits on the edge of my desk, making me laugh.

“What are you like?” She shrugs, but doesn’t say anything. “I can’t tonight. I need to work an extra half-hour to make up for lunch, then rush to meet Sarah at my place. I would have loved to, though.”

She smiles brightly. “Oh well. There’s always another time.”

“Oh, I just remembered. What about this hot man you’ve been dating? You never got around to telling me about him.”

She smiles brightly, which makes me happy. She deserves it after last year when she found out her husband of five years had been cheating on her the whole time…with her sister!

“We’ve been dating for about two months. After Pete, I went off men completely. I actually vowed that I would remain celibate the rest of my life.” She shakes her head, smirking. “Boy, I would have really missed out.” She giggles, setting me off. “We had sex for the first time a few days ago. I really didn’t know what I had been missing all these years. Pete and I met when we were young. We were each other’s first. Well, that’s what he told me anyway. I doubt I can believe anything that comes out of his mouth now. Anyway, I didn’t really enjoy the sex, but I had nothing to compare it to.”

Placing my hand on hers, I give it a little squeeze. “I’m so happy for you. What’s his name?”

“Larry.”

“You tell him that if he hurts you, he’ll have me to deal with.”

She squeezes my hand back and leans forward. “I will.”

“When are you seeing him again?”

“He’s taking me shopping tomorrow, then out to eat. We’re going to practically spend the whole weekend together.”

“That’s great. I hope he spoils you rotten.”

She gets up from the edge of my desk, smiling. “I’m sure he will.”