“Does this nothing have a name?” she asked.

He swallowed and nodded. “Yes.”

She was having trouble breathing. “Do I know her name?”

“Yes.”

She choked. “Oh, God.”

Bill rolled over and took hold of her shoulders. There was pain on his face, but he was no mirror for her because her pain was beyond comprehension. When he spoke, his words sounded so stupid he should have kept his mouth shut.

“I didn’t want to hurt you.” he said.

“You can’t want her instead of me,” she whispered.

“Teresa, I didn’t want any of this.”

“Does she know?”

He raised his voice. “Of course she knows! She feels the same way I do. I’m telling you, we didn’t want this to happen.”

Teresa felt herself going into shock. Her mind couldn’t keep up with how fast her heart was sinking.

“What happened?” she cried. “What have you two been doing together?”

“Nothing. I swear to you, nothing’s happened yet.”

She felt so exposed, so used. “’Yet’?” she croaked. “Is something going to happen?”