-Cheryl-

Reed and I are putting the finishing touches on the cupcakes. We both took off today after the events from this morning. We wanted to spend the day together processing everything that happened in the last 24 hours.

I glance over at my husband. He's concentrating on making the perfect question mark on top of a blue cupcake. I smile. He looks up at me and catches me off guard. He returns my smile before getting back to his task.

As much as I'm trying, I can't get the image of Reed's panicked face out of my head when I open the door to the shock of my life. Him naked, standing next to the bed that he inadvertently shared with big tits Patty. I close my eyes, trying to erase the image from my mind. I kept telling myself that it was nothing. They did nothing. He loves me and would never do that to me intentionally, would he?

I remember the call that I received from Todd early this morning. How could I not see that this was a setup? I replayed the entire conversation in my head.

***

I had fallen asleep on the couch, waiting for Reed to get home. My phone rings. It's Reed!

"Reed?!" I say sleepily, feeling like I'm in some dream.

"It's Todd."

What the hell, Todd?

"Todd, why are you calling me on Reed's phone?"

Suddenly, I'm wide awake. "Oh my, God! Is Reed okay?"

I can't hide the panic in my voice.

Todd says, "He drank way too much last night. I think you should come here and get him. I will text you my address."

I look at the clock. It is 5:00 a.m. What the hell? "Okay, I'll be there as soon as I can. Thanks for calling me, Todd." I hang up the phone.

I'm pissed driving the whole way to Todd's. I'm going to kill Reed. The closer I get to Todd's, the more pissed I am. When I arrive, I pound on Todd's door. He opens it with a smirk on his face. Of course, what an asshole.

"Where the fuck is he, Todd?" I yell louder than I intended.

Todd doesn't appreciate me yelling at him. "Bitch, I don't need to answer to you. Especially not in my house!"

I walk past him and start pulling open doors until I find the one with my naked husband standing there while another woman is in his bed.

***

How could I have been so stupid? I walked right into his trap, and now I'll never be able to unsee what I saw this morning. I sneak another peek at Reed. I love him so much and decided never to hold what happened today against him. It wouldn't be fair to him.

Reed smiles proudly at me."All done. How do they look?"

"Perfect!" I grin.

Just then, the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it," Reed announced.

Reed walks to the front door to let our guests enter. "Hey, guys! Thank you for joining us on such short notice."

"I told Cheryl we would call you to get together, so this is perfect." I heard Kandie telling Reed before Tank spoke.

"Yes, thank you for having us."

"I was about to put the chicken on the grill. Tank, you want to grab some beers and join me?" Reed asked.

"Absolutely," Tank replied.

Tank kisses Kandie on the forehead before the guys head to the back patio. She joins me in the kitchen. She places her pasta salad in the fridge to keep chilled till we're ready to eat.

"Hey, are you feeling okay? We missed you at work." She looks at me, concerned.

"Um... yeah. I'm fine. I just needed the day. Reed and I needed the day together. We had a rough morning." I tell her about Todd's plan to ruin Reed's and my marriage.

Kandie was furious. "So this asshole drugged his friend and girlfriend and made sure that you found them in bed together?"

"Yep," I say.

"That's a whole shit load of fucked up!" Kandie exclaims.

"Tell me about it! I'm struggling with getting the image out of my head," I admit.

Kandie raises her eyebrows. "Wow! That's tough. So Patty drove all the way here after Todd kicked her ass just to let you know that Reed was telling you the truth."

"She did, but now I can't help but feel like she's in danger. Especially if Todd discovered she came here to ensure I knew the truth, we told her to go to the police."

Kandie looked surprised at my statement. "Damn! No wonder you took the day off."

I lean back on the counter and cross my arms. "Right! It's a lot to take in."

"It is." Kandie agrees

I sigh, "Well, that's all behind us now. Reed is cutting all ties with Todd."

"Finally! That guy always gave me the creeps. Especially the way that he would look at you." Kandie reveals the same feelings that I got when I was around Todd.

I nod my head in agreement. "I know. I have done my best to avoid him for the past two years. Reed and he have kept in touch, but honestly, I don't think he liked how Todd was towards me either."

"Well, that does not surprise me." Kandie frowns.

"Thankfully, we don't need to worry about creepy Todd anymore," I say, relieved that Todd will not be part of our lives anymore. "Can I get you a drink, wine, beer, lemonade, iced tea?"

"What are you having?" Kandie points at my glass.

"Lemonade," I reply.

Kandie smiles. "That sounds refreshing. I'll have that."

Kandie and I gather the items to prepare the patio table for dinner. Reed places the chicken on the table, and we enjoy a wonderful meal together. I'm so excited about dessert.

Reed winks at me. "I hope you two kept room for dessert."

Tank replies, "You know we did!"

Tank gives Kandie a sweet smile.

"Honey, can you help me?" Reed reaches his hand out to me.

"Of course." I smile, knowing that we are going to reveal to our friends our happy news.

Reed and I go inside to get the cupcakes. We both take off our button-down shirts to reveal our pregnancy tee shirts. I don't think that I have ever seen a smile as big as the one on Reed's face.

We take the tray of cupcakes out to the patio to see Tank and Kandie standing with their arms around each other, smiling, wearing the same tee shirts as Reed and I.

Kandie and I scream.

"Oh my God! Are you serious?" I shout loud enough for the neighbors to hear.

"I can't believe we're going to be pregnant together!" Kandie proclaims.

Tank pats Reed on the back. "Congrats, man."

"Right back at ya!" Reed shakes Tank's hand.

Kandie and Tank have been trying to get pregnant for three years. They went through infertility testing, and everything always came back normal for Tank, but Kandie had trouble ovulating regularly. This past year, the doctor put Kandie on Clomid to regulate her ovulation.

I'm so happy for them, for all of us! "So, when did you find out that you were pregnant?"

Kandie replies, "Three months ago. How far along are you?"

I look at Reed. "I don't know. I just found out. Wait...three months, and we're just now finding out?"

Kandie glances towards Tank. "My doctor recommended, with our history, to wait till I started my second trimester."

"But we're best friends? You could have told me," I complain.

"Please, don't be mad. I didn't want to jinx it. Only Tank and I have known. We wanted to tell you guys before our family." Kandie tries to smooth over my disappointment.

I lower my voice, "I'm not mad. I understand."

Kandie changes the subject. "These cupcakes are adorable."

"They were Reed's idea. My reveal to him ended up being pretty disastrous." I look over at Reed, and he gives me an understanding look.

Kandie gives me a knowing smile. "I'm just so happy we get through this together."

"Me, too." My mood brightens.

We hug, and each grabs a cupcake. We look down at our choices and smile. Kandie chose a pink one, and I picked up a blue one.

Although the day ended so much better than it started that day, I still couldn't shake the ominous feeling deep inside me.

*****