Chapter 2: The Condition He Never Saw Coming
His smile was still there when I said it.
"The same rules apply to both of us."
The smile stayed for exactly one more second.
Then it was gone.
"What do you mean?" he said.
"I mean if the marriage is open," I said calmly, "it's open for both of us.
Not just you."
He set his drink down.
"That's…
that's not really what I had in mind."
"I know," I said.
"That's the condition."
The silence between us was loud enough that the couple at the next table glanced over.
He leaned forward.
His voice dropped.
"You're not seriously saying you want to go out with other men."
"I'm saying if you can, I can."
He looked at me like I had just spoken a foreign language.
Like the version of me he had built in his head — tired, grateful, too busy to notice — had just stood up and introduced herself as someone else entirely.
"This isn't funny," he said.
"I'm not laughing."
He picked up his drink.
Put it down again without taking a sip.
Then he said the thing that told me everything I needed to know.
"I just…
I didn't think you'd actually want to."
And there it was.
He hadn't asked for an open marriage because he wanted freedom for both of us.
He had asked because he was already planning to use it.
I reached into my bag.
Slowly.
And placed something on the table between us.
He stared at it.
His face went completely white.
---
What she put on that table ended the dinner — and nearly ended everything else.
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