"Babe, I have a confession to make," Joe said. "Two of them, actually."

Two of them? Lauren looked down at her husband, who looked less beat-up today. His face still bore the cuts and bruises from the beating he'd taken, but the swelling had gone down, and she could see more of his eyes, blackened as they were. Those eyes were pained, and sorrowful, and she felt her stomach drop as she realized this might be it, he might confess to knowing Joanie.

"What is it?" she asked.

"First, I took your sword."

She gasped. That wasn't what she'd expected him to say at all. "You took it? I thought someone at the office stole it."

"Sorry, babe. It was that night. Rachel and I stopped at your office first to get it. We thought we might be seeing trouble where we were going."

"Are you ready to tell me now what happened to you?" she asked.

Joe chuckled ruefully. "What happened was we walked right into a trap."

"Start at the beginning."

"Okay. So, back in the summer, when Charlie was supposedly missing, he was actually--"

"Dead, I know. We dug him up."

Joe reared back in surprise. "You did?"

"Yeah, me, Al and Sunny."

"Sunny too?"

"We had to get a ride from him, because the van got stolen, remember?"

"Jesus," he breathed. "You three were like the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew."

She smirked. "No, we were the Lawrence Street Detective Club. It wasn't as adventurous as you make out, though. We were terrified we'd be digging up one of you."

"Seriously?" he squawked.

"We had no idea where you were. We were running in circles trying to find you. First we found your phone using the Find My Friends app on my phone--"

"Shit," he breathed. "That's a handy app."

"Yes, thank goodness. But when we found the phone and not you, I was freaking out."

His face softened. "Sorry, babe."

"So, you were saying about Charlie."

"Yeah. So you probably know Johnny put him in the trunk because he had the trunk."

"Did Johnny bury him out there?"

"Johnny and Rachel."

"Rachel?!" Now it was Lauren's turn to be shocked. "She never told me that."

"No one wanted to tell you. We all knew how much you loved that dog, and you would have been so pissed to find out Johnny accidentally ran him over."

"You're right, I would have. So, I was driving around looking for him and he was already dead?"

"If it helps, they didn't tell me either until I got that phone call at the party."

Lauren blinked in surprise. "What phone call?"

"You don't remember?"

She shook her head. "We were drugged, Joe. Me and Al. Our drinks were spiked, maybe by one of my coworkers at the party. We couldn't remember anything when we woke up, that's why we were so frantic when we couldn't find you."

Joe looked confused. "Who the hell would do that? And didn't Ralph explain where we went?"

She chose not to answer the first question, because if she did, the person responsible would get a visit from Joe when he healed up, and she didn't want to see Joe go to prison. As to the second: "He was gone when we woke up. We didn't even know you left us with him until Rachel told us after you two returned."

"That's so weird," Joe said, mystified. "He was the one who volunteered to watch you two."

"I bet he was," Lauren muttered.

"Well, see, I don't know if you remember this, babe, but you and Al--"

"I know, Sunny informed us when we called him looking for you. We made a real spectacle of ourselves, and I'm very sorry, I think that happened because we were drugged."

"Well, Ralph did say he was concerned about you two, he thought maybe you had too much to drink or something, and he didn't want you getting sick or doing something else... spectacular."

Lauren shrugged. "What can I say? Maybe Al and I went to sleep and he thought it was safe to go. Maybe the two of you took too long getting back and he couldn't stay any longer."

Joe nodded thoughtfully. "So, where was I? The guy who called, I don't know where he got my number, but he let me know that he saw Johnny burying the dog on property that wasn't his, and that he knew Johnny and I were brothers, he knew where we lived, and that if we didn't come with money and pick up the trunk, they'd leave it on Johnny's doorstep the next morning for his family to find."

Lauren shook her head in disbelief. "And you thought it was a good idea to go out there in the middle of the night? After a party in which you saw your wife being inappropriate with a friend?"

Joe smirked. "Don't forget making a pass at Tej. Jesus, Lauren, I know you had that thing with Rachel when you were thirteen, but I didn't think you were attracted to women."

She took a shaky breath. "Yeah... well... um... about that..."

His eyes widened. "You are?"

"Not all women. Just the ones who come into my life and stay a while."

His brow furrowed. "Should I be worried?"

"No. Not at all. I'd never leave you for another woman."

He blinked in surprise. "Well, I guess that's reassuring."

"So, you went, and you grabbed my sword along the way, and you went out to... what, the place where Johnny buried Charlie? And then they beat you up, left you there?"

"Not there, a little way down on 272nd Street. They took everything, my phone, my keys, your sword. I'm so sorry, babe. I know how much it meant to you."

"It means more to me that you're here and safe. Anyway, maybe the police can find it if they ever track these guys down. Don't beat yourself up about it. You said you had another confession?"

She held her breath while he took his time answering.

"Lauren, while Rachel and I were out there, alone and in the cold, we... comforted each other."

Lauren felt like she was punched in the gut. This was not what she was expecting at all. "Rachel. And you."

"We didn't... uh... go all the way."

"Well, I guess that's reassuring. I wonder why she didn't tell me about it."

"You think she would? Are you two so close that she would confess an indiscretion like that?"

"Oh, babe, you don't know how close we are."

"What does that mean?"

She chose not to answer that yet. "Was it to get back at Al and me for something we did under the influence?"

He shook his head in frustration. "No. No. By that time I think we'd forgotten all about what you two did. Sure I was a little mad, but that went away, and we were just trying to keep warm and sane. She... helped me. I'm sorry I slipped, but without her I'd probably be dead in a ditch."

She nodded. "I understand," she said, even though she felt dizzy from the revelation. Rachel had told her, over and over again, that she didn't find Joe attractive that way. It felt like a betrayal, and it wasn't Joe she was angry at, because how could he resist her? She certainly couldn't. She was well aware of the irony of being angry at Rachel while she was having inappropriate thoughts about Rachel's husband, but life was filled with ironies, wasn't it?

"Lauren," Joe said. "You know I still love you, right? Always have, always will. Rachel and I both agreed that what happened was a heat of the moment thing, that it didn't have to change anything about our relationships with each other and with you and Al."

"I wholeheartedly agree," she said. "Two marriages and a family don't have to break up over a make-out and a fumble."

He sighed in relief. "Thank God. You don't know how much I worried about how you would take it. We've only ever been with each other, and I didn't want to betray you like that."

"Actually, it's fine. A bit of a relief, to tell you the truth. For a moment there I thought you were going to tell me about something else."

His brow furrowed. "Something else?"

"The text exchange on your phone."

His eyes widened.

"Oddly enough," Lauren said, "the day we found your phone, Joanie pulled up behind us on the highway thinking we broke down. I wonder what she was thinking when I had in my hand the phone of the man she was making a move on."

Joe paled. She thought he might be sick. "You know about Joanie?"

"I only just reunited with her on Sunday, by chance. It was a surprise to hear from Naomi that you had a cop friend I didn't know about."

He closed his eyes and sighed in resignation. "That was a purely by chance thing, running into each other at a Starbucks."

"When did you first meet? Or did you keep in touch since our wedding?"

His eyes popped open. "What? No! I hadn't seen her in years, not since the wedding. I only just reunited with her one day out at the Aldergrove site, she was responding to a call we made about stolen pipes."

"Yeah, apparently she'd been posted all over the country before coming back home."

His eyes searched her imploringly. "We haven't done anything, Lauren, please believe me. It was some harmless flirting. Hell, Rachel and I did more harm to our marriages than Joanie ever did."

"That's for me to determine, hotshot," she said. "You confessed about Rachel right away, maybe because it's so close to home. This thing with Joanie seems more like something you're hiding."

He closed his eyes and tilted his head back. "You're right. I admit it. I leave myself completely at your mercy. I never thought I'd be that guy, but here I am. I've betrayed you and the kids. I won't make any excuses."

She sighed and climbed into bed beside him, throwing an arm around his massive chest. "I won't say I wasn't hurt," she said. "But we can survive this."

He opened his eyes and looked at her. "You don't have to be magnanimous. Punish me. I deserve it."

"If I punish you, my love, I'll have to punish myself."

His eyes squinted to bring her face into focus. "What do you mean?"

"Remember when I said you don't know how close Rachel and I are?"

She waited for him to get it. After a few seconds, he paled. "You and Rachel?"

She nodded, biting her lip. "I guess the thing we did at thirteen wasn't a one-off after all."

"You and Rachel have been... having sex?"

"Yeah," she said weakly.

His face hardened. "How long?"

"Almost since the day we reunited."

"Almost... two years?"

"Yes." What could she say? She owed him the truth, as painful as it was to tell it.

His mouth twisted. "You said you'd never leave me for another woman, but this is pretty damn close."

"Don't blame her, please. Blame me. I seduced her, not the other way around."

"Yeah, but she didn't exactly reject you, did she? Who am I kidding? Who would? I'm pissed at you but I still want you more than anyone in the world."

Her eyes filled with tears. "You do?"

"Of course I do. But I don't get it. Why? What is it about her?"

"You should know. You had a piece."

He chuckled. "Okay, fine, yeah, she's attractive, and I like her brashness and her complete lack of shame. She does what she wants and doesn't care. It's hard not to be drawn to her."

"Well, that's what I was attracted to from the moment I met her when I was twelve. She's just so... radiant, you know? I think I fell in love with her then, and before you say anything, it's not the same kind of love I have for you. I can't explain how it's different, it just is. She meant so much to me when we were growing up, and when she moved away it devastated me."

His face softened. "I remember. I consoled you a lot that year."

"If it wasn't for you, I would have shrivelled up and died from loneliness."

"Don't say that, babe."

"It's true. That's why I love you so much. You're my rock, my home, the one thing I can count on. But Rachel is important to me in another way." An analogy came to her then, and she took a deep breath before going on. "You're the earth, giving me nutrients and a firm substrate. She's... the sun, and I feel like I need her just as much. When we reunited, and she was in so much trouble, that radiance was gone for a while, and I knew I had to help her bring it back. And when I did, and she shone again, I fell hard."

"But... why did you need to have sex with her? What is it that I can't give you? Maybe I just don't understand because I've never been attracted to other men."

She kissed him on the mouth and said, "I don't know how I can make you understand. It's not that she does anything better than you. And there is something she definitely can't do that you can, my love. It's just... being a woman, she knows how to touch me in places women like to be touched. But it's more than that. I think... our physical love is a natural expression of the intensity of our emotional love. When we're in each other's arms, we fit together like pieces of a puzzle."

He stared up at the ceiling and sighed. "This is a lot to take in. First, I have to know: do you want to stay married to me?"

"Yes, of course I do!" she exclaimed, shocked he even asked. "We've been married almost twenty years, and together most of our lives. We have two beautiful children. I don't ever want to jeopardize that."

"But you and Rachel won't just stop seeing each other if I ask you, will you?"

She didn't say anything. She thought she might be sick if she opened her mouth.

"What about Al?" he asked. "Have you thought about his feelings in all this?"

She cleared her throat and said, "Al knows. I confessed to him on Sunday."

He shook his head and sighed. "Fuck me," he moaned. "This is some kind of mess."

"If it influences you at all, he's okay with it."

His eyes widened. "What the fuck?"

"He doesn't want to stand in our way. He understands how much I love her, because he loves her with the same intensity. As long as she doesn't leave him for me, he won't make us stop. And it's not that we've done it that often, either; we know my priorities are my kids, and you, and work and other family. She would never get in the way of that."

"Thanks for the consideration," he said sarcastically. After a moment, he sighed. "This is so fucked up, but I don't want to lose you, Lauren."

"I don't want to lose you either. I still love you most of all. You're the father of my children. That's the one thing Rachel will never have over you."

He shook his head. "If it were another man, I wouldn't be this confused. He'd be dead and we'd be divorced, end of story."

The frank admission shocked her even though it was what she expected. "There are no other men for me, Joe."

"That thing with Al, though..."

"It's as much a mystery to me as it was to Al," she lied. "We were drugged, and that made us do something we would never have done otherwise."

He stared at her for a moment, and she nearly broke under that gaze. That Saturday night and Sunday morning, when they'd woken with no memory of what had happened, and, worse, that Monday night and Tuesday morning, when they'd been very, very aware of each other and what their actions might have led to had it not been for a well-timed phone call from Rachel, was something she could never, ever tell him about, because then it would be over, and she would die from being uprooted from him.

He barked a laugh that scared her; it sounded almost maniacal. "My family can never know about this. Our kids can never know about this."

"Are you kidding? I'd die if your mother knew. My lips are sealed, believe me. And I would never stay away from the children long enough for them to question where I am. I'll always be home when I say I'll be home. After all, they haven't suspected for two years, have they?"

"Neither have I, even though I should have read something into how often you and Rachel touch each other, and hug, and just linger with each other."

"We'd never do anything inappropriate in front of you. I'd never embarrass you or the kids."

"Well, I guess that's something."

She looked at him then, and went over again in her mind what she wanted to say, "Joe?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm going to suggest something that I want you to at least think about."

His brow furrowed. "What is it?"

"Joanie. I think you should see her."

He stared at her, blinking rapidly. "What?"

"I think... look, when I saw that text exchange, I saw some other things on your phone that suggested you have a need that I just can't fulfil."

His eyes looked pained. "Oh, babe, no..."

"Joe, look, I know I'm the only woman you've ever been with, and that has to be hard on a guy."

"No... Lauren, I love you only. I'm committed to you. You're the sexiest woman I've ever known. I couldn't be happier with our love life."

"I know you're committed to me, just as I'm committed to you. I'm not saying we split up. I'm saying... hall pass. Just like I do, you find a day and time to be with her, and come home after. Maybe a Sunday here and there when you would normally be with Johnny, or something."

His eyes widened. "It sounds like you've put thought into this."

"I think it might be good to have one more sexual partner, one you don't have to worry you'll break. Joanie's tall and sturdy."

"Jesus, Lauren, you're talking so casually about cheating."

"It's not cheating if we set rules and agree to them. Maybe Rachel and I were cheating because you didn't know. I'm making this right, now, and I think it's only fair that you benefit from this too."

He blinked at her once, twice. Then he said, "What rules do you propose?"

"Well, like I said, no arrangements that take you away from me or the kids for longer than usual. The Sunday evening thing seems like a good idea. Second, you use condoms at all times, and she uses birth control. No babies, no STDs. Third, you don't do it at our house. That's one thing I won't stand for." She was aware that she'd once taken Rachel in the downstairs bathroom, but Joe didn't have to know about that. "As long as she doesn't ask you for more than this, maybe we can be happy."

"What if she does?" he asked.

"Well, then, I guess you'll need to make the decision. Would you want to leave me and the kids and start a new life with her?"

He shook his head. "No, never. I can't even believe we're contemplating this."

"Look, you don't have to if you really don't want to. I do want Joanie back as a friend, though; I like her, she was good to me when we were in school, and when she was my maid of honour. I don't want to think of her as a competitor, and wonder if she's somewhere scheming on you. If she agrees to these rules, if this can make both of you happy for a while, then maybe it will ease the pressure cloud hanging over us right now."

His face softened, and he sighed. "She's come to see me here, in the hospital."

"Oh," Lauren said, smiling. Joanie was playing ball. "Good. Did you enjoy her visit?"

He cleared his throat. "Yes. She hugged me, or an approximation of a hug while I'm in this bed. She was shocked by how I looked."

"You'll heal up, and then you can see her. Have they told you when you can leave?"

"Another day, I think. I'm out of the woods concussion wise, and there's no healing I'm doing here that I can't do at home."

"Good. Then your Mamma can look after you."

He chuckled. "I'm looking forward to it. No, really, it will be nice to sleep in my own bed again."

She nodded, glad she'd changed the sheets and washed Joe's robe since Al had slept over. She had to hope Naomi wouldn't blab about where she suspected Al had slept. That would just muddy the waters Lauren felt she'd just cleared as well as she could have hoped.

She lay scrunched into his side on the bed a little longer, holding herself against rolling off just so she could feel his large, warm body next to hers for a while. A body, she realized, she'd unknowingly shared with Rachel, and might soon be sharing with Joanie. It was something she had to brace herself against, and she'd brought it on herself by flying too close to the sun.

"Where are the kids this evening, babe?" he asked.

"Hm?" She realized she was dozing a little. She'd slept fitfully the night before, because her mind had been racing with the implications of what was in the anonymously sent photo, and what Al had told her about how the photo of them had been taken. They'd been targeted maliciously, and they might not even have fallen into bed together of their own volition; maybe they'd been posed there by a third party who'd wanted to send the photo of them to Rachel and Joe, maybe for the purpose of destroying both marriages. It still astounded her that anyone had such hatred for her... it had to be her because who would hate Al?... that they would go to these lengths to destroy her.

The one thing that still niggled at her, though, was how both she and Al looked in that photo. She didn't think those facial expressions could be faked.

"The kids," Joe repeated.

"Oh, yeah, they're at my mom and dad's. They picked them up from school."

"Okay. Are you off work, now?"

"Yeah." She didn't tell him she'd spent most of the day away from the office because she no longer trusted her coworkers.

"Well... I love having you here, but if you need to get the kids, I shouldn't keep you."

"They know I've gone to see you. They'll understand if I want to spend time with you."

"Yeah... but I think I need some time alone... to think about your offer."

She blinked in surprise, and was a little hurt that he appeared to be sending her away. "Okay," she said.

"Just to be clear," he said. "If I accept, then you and I both have lovers we go to from time to time, but our marriage holds, and we never feel hurt by the other's 'dates.'" He said this last with a one-handed air quote.

She took a deep breath and let it out. "Yes. But, just to be clear, this only applies to Joanie for you and Rachel for me. Each of us has another woman. That's all. I have no space in my head for any others."

He huffed. "Don't worry, babe. My heart has no other room, either. I still don't know if I can go through with it."

She kissed him on the cheek and said, "You will. After the first time it's surprisingly easy. Just... remember the rules, and I think we'll be fine."

She rose, grabbed his hand and said, "I'll see you here tomorrow if they don't release you. Otherwise, I can't wait to have you back in our bed."

"Me neither, babe. I love you."

"And I love you."

She left with a feeling of unease. It felt... unfinished, their discussion. It went as well as she could have hoped, and yet... it was unnatural, what she was suggesting, their arrangement. But could it have gone any better if she'd confronted him angrily about Joanie, threatened divorce, when he could have turned it around on her and done the same? Hadn't their marriage already been threatened when she'd first lured Rachel into that shower? Hadn't it threatened to fall over like a thinned out Jenga tower with every day she and Rachel kept it from their spouses?

As she unlocked her Nissan Versa, it occurred to her that she didn't want to go home yet. She felt too wound up. A little irritated, a little angry, she felt she would snap at her children if she picked them up now and they made the slightest complaint. She needed to do something to get rid of this itchy feeling under her skin.

She sat behind the wheel and considered her options. She knew what she wanted to do, but the moment she did it she would have already broken the rules she and Joe had agreed on. She wouldn't have even considered it if, in the chaos of the last few days, she'd failed to take her birth control pills as religiously as she always had; even the morning she'd woken up with Al, she'd still remembered to take it as soon as she'd gotten home from their trip to get Joe's phone, because she'd been so obsessed with making sure she'd taken it the day before.

It was risky, what she was thinking of doing. It could threaten everything.

She dialled her mom and dad. Her mom picked up. "Hi, honey," she said.

"Mom, would it be okay if they stayed with you another hour or two? I have to stop at Rachel's and discuss a few things."

"Of course, honey. How is Rachel, by the way?"

"Healing up. She should be back at work in a day or two."

"Have you been to see Joe?"

"Yes. He should be another day or two here, then recovering at home."

"I'm so glad he's safe and returned. Your father and I are both relieved."

"Me too. Tell the kids I'll be there soon, and that their dad will be home soon too."

"Will do. Bye, honey."

"Bye, Mom."

She hung up and took a deep breath. Now or never. Before Joe healed up and the rules officially kicked in.

She drove across the Cambie Street Bridge into downtown.

She drove up to the parking gate at Rachel's building and found her name on the screen.

"Lauren?" Rachel's voice was confused. "We weren't expecting you. Are you okay?"

"I'm sorry I didn't call ahead, but..." She felt her voice quavering and fought to control herself. "Can I see you?"

"Of course you can," she said. "Come on up."

The parking gate rose, and she found the parking space Rachel reserved for her friends. She locked her door and entered the elevator, and she didn't know if it was the elevator rising that caused the drop in her stomach, or her own nerves.

Rachel stood in the door of her apartment as Lauren exited the elevator. Her black eye had changed to a mottled reddish yellow, but the rest of her scrapes had healed. She enveloped Lauren in a hug as soon as she came near, and Lauren knew everything would be okay.

"How are your bruises underneath your clothes?" Lauren asked.

"I'd show them to you, but..." She gestured with her head inside the apartment. "Otherwise, they're almost gone."

Lauren followed her inside. Al was in the kitchen, cooking something for dinner. "Hey," he said awkwardly, concentrating on his pan while casting her glances as she took a seat on the couch.

"I'm sorry, am I interrupting your dinner?" she asked.

"Not at all," he said. "There's more than enough for three if you're hungry."

"I'm not, but thanks."

Rachel sat beside her. "So, Ralph called me like you said he would."

"He did, did he?"

"Yup, and when I asked him why he ditched you two after offering to look after you, he got really flustered."

"Oh, no, you confronted him on that?"

"Yeah, why?"

"We could be building a case against him for worse than just ditching us. I don't want to put him on his guard. As far as he knows, I think he left with his wife before you two left. If you're raking him over the coals, he might suspect you've talked to me. I did get you the job, remember. He knows we're close."

"You think he might feel like a cornered rat?"

Lauren shrugged. "I've never known him to be anything but a teddy bear, but anything's possible. I still can't understand why he did it, if he did it."

"I think he has a crush on me."

"What?!" Al squawked. "What the hell? You never told me this."

Rachel shrugged. "I thought it was just harmless, but when you said he tried to send it to both me and Joe, I think he intended to make us jealous enough to end our marriages. How that would benefit him, I wouldn't know; he'd still have to divorce his wife, and then there's the fact that I have no interest in him at all."

Lauren thought about it a while. "That seems like a small thing to risk your marriage, career and reputation for."

"Men have flipped out over smaller things. Anyway, enough about that, we'll figure it out later. Have you been to see Joe?"

She nodded. "I have. It was... a visit full of surprises."

Rachel's face fell. "Oh, yeah?"

Lauren looked at Al, who'd turned the stove off and was now looking at her directly. She took a deep breath and said, "He told me about what happened with the two of you."

"It's okay," Al said. "Rachel told me too."

"Okay, so you do know." She sighed in relief. "We're all okay with it, then?"

"I am," Al said. "Are you?"

She nodded.

"Oh, thank God," Rachel said. "I should have told you, I'm sorry."

Lauren slid against her and put her head on her shoulder. "You don't have anything to be sorry for. You saved my husband. I'll never be able to repay you."

"He saved me first."

She snuggled into Rachel, who put an arm around her hesitantly. Lauren knew she was being cautious, because she didn't know Al knew. She thought it was finally time to clear the air.

Thanks for reading this far! Things are about to get dangerous. Click "Continue reading" to see what happens next. If you liked this chapter, click "Vote" to send this title up the ranks. Leave a comment and let me know what you think!