Panic instantly started to set in as I looked over at the nightstand and saw that the clock read 6:44 am. I had appointment starting at 8:00 that morning and intended to be up at 5:30.

Unfortunately, I’d fallen asleep while waiting for Kayla to come home and didn’t get a chance to set my alarm. I stretched and rolled over only to find that she wasn't in bed with me. Sometimes she had trouble sleeping so I didn’t think anything of it and figured I’d find her in the kitchen drinking coffee.

I grabbed a fast shower, brushed my teeth, and got dressed in record time, leaving me about twenty minutes about twenty minutes before I had to leave the house. I planned to use that time to see how Kayla’s first day at work had been, but when I walked into the kitchen, she wasn’t there.

Wondering where she could be, I looked around the house and found her sleeping on the couch wrapped in one of the blankets we usually reserve for guests. At first, I thought that she might have fallen asleep reading or watching television, but the tv was off, and there wasn’t a book to be found.

Surely she couldn’t be that upset about the fight we had, could she? Sure, we’ve had our fair share of fights and arguments over the years, but never one that’s been so bad that one of us slept on the couch.

“Kayla?” I whispered into her ear, nudging her gently from her sleep. “Kayla, wake up.”

“Huh? What? What time is it?”

“It’s about 7:20. How come you’re sleeping out here?”

“I don’t know. I was just lying here thinking, and I guess I fell asleep.”

She wasn’t fooling me. I knew she was lying. If she ever wants to relax on the couch, she has a throw blanket that she always grabs. She had to go down to the basement closet to get the guest blanket she was using.

“Thanks for the lasagna last night. It was delicious.”

“Yeah, I saw the note you left,” she replied coldly. The way she said it made me very uneasy. I guess the fight was worse in her mind than it was in mine.

“How was your first night at work?” I asked, trying to sound as genuine as possible.

“Dillon, you don't have to feign an interest. You can save your breath.”

“I’m not feigning any interest, Kayla. I’d really like to know.”

“It was fine.”

“Look, I’m really sorry about everything I said yesterday. I didn’t mean for things to blow up like they did. I never imagined it would have you sleeping on the couch.”

“Yeah, that’s why I’m sleeping on the couch,” she scoffed with just a hint of a laugh in her voice.

“If that’s not the problem, then what is it?”

“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it. Don’t you have to get to work?”

“Yes, but not until you tell me what’s on your mind. What did I do?”

“What did you do? I don’t know, Dillon. Why don’t you tell me what you did?”

I searched my brain for anything that could have pissed her off this much. I put my dinner dishes in the dishwasher and put the lasagna back in the fridge. I had no idea what I could have done to make her so angry with me.

“I have no idea. I really can’t think of anything.”

“Okay, then there’s nothing to talk about.”

“Fine, I don’t have time for this. Whatever it is you’re mad about, I guess we can discuss it later.”

I turned to grab my things and was almost to the door that separates the house from the garage when she spoke up.

“I used your laptop last night.”

My breath caught, and my heart felt like it stopped beating inside my chest. She didn’t have to say anything else because I already knew what she meant. I just had to figure out how to downplay it.

“Kayla, you shouldn’t get mad about seeing porn on my laptop. All men look at porn.”

“Yeah? Even men who are always so tired that they usually have no interest in doing things with their wife?”

“It isn’t like that at all.”

“Then what is it like? It seems to me that my schedule works out perfect for you. You can lay in our bed and jerk off all you want. No nagging wife to worry about then, huh?”

“You’re making this seem way worse than it is.”

“Am I, though? I don’t think I am. It’s not even so much the fact that you were looking at porn that bothers me. I could not possibly care less. If you think I never look at porn, you’re nuts. I’m more bothered by the fact that you’re watching porn about wives who cheat on their husbands.”

“Oh, that’s what you’re upset about? It just happened to be the video I clicked on. They aren’t all like that.”

“Dillon, you know me well enough to know that I’m not stupid. I didn’t just look at what video you had up. The whole damn website was about cheating wives. I can’t believe you would be looking at that, especially after all the shit you gave me yesterday about getting all made up to go to work. Is that what you think I’m doing? Do you think I took this job to cheat on you?”

“No Kayla, it’s not like that at all. I just like some of the storylines in the videos on that site.”

“Okay, explain one thing to me then. Why did the girl in the video you were watching when you closed your laptop look exactly like me.”

Fuck, I was busted. I knew she paid attention to every little detail about everything, but I was really hoping that she wouldn’t put that together. If I was ever going to come clean, it was right then.

“All right, listen. I don’t think you took your job to cheat on me and I don’t believe that you would cheat on me anyway, there’s just this fantasy I’ve always had since we got married, but I’ve never wanted to bring it up to you.”

“Dillon, you’re supposed to be my best friend. You’ve always told me that there isn’t anything you can’t tell me. We’ve done plenty of experimenting in the bedroom so I don’t know why you’d be worried about me knowing a fantasy. Those are supposed to be fun.”

“This one is a little different, and I’m honestly not sure how you’d react to it, especially seeing how you’re responding right now to the fact that I was looking at porn.”

“Just tell me. I won’t judge.”

“Okay, I have this fantasy. It’s not a cheating fantasy at all because I’d never want you to actually cheat on me, but I’ve always had a fantasy of watching you with another man.”