I reached for the phone to see who sent the message, but Jake rushed out of the bathroom, back into the room and grabbed it first. He looked at the screen quickly, then looked at me and said,

"It's just Sarah."

"Why did you grab it so fast? Are you hiding something from me?" I asked, feeling worried. Something felt wrong.

The message only had four words on the lock screen.

"Does she know yet?"

Those four words were enough to make me panic. Someone was afraid I would find out about something. And the way they wrote it sounded weird, like they were close to Jake in a way they shouldn't be.

I looked at Jake carefully, and that bad feeling in my stomach got worse.

Jake laughed and tossed his phone back on the table. Then he pulled me into his arms and kissed me.

"You're thinking too much! It's not about you. It's about my sister, Sarah. She's trying to hide something from Mom, and she's using me to cover for her."

Sarah was Jake's younger sister, Sarah Collins. She was sick a lot when she was little, so their family babied her. Always gave her whatever she wanted. She never really grew up because of it.

Sarah was twenty-three now, but she didn't do anything important with her life. She dropped out of college and just traveled around, shopped, and partied with her friends.

"Why would Sarah need to hide things from your mom? And why are you helping her?" I asked.

Jake smiled and picked me up in his arms. He kissed my neck as he carried me to the bathroom. "Don't worry about it. You're such a good wife. That's why I love you so much."

I felt better hearing him say that. Over the years, I never said no when Jake's family needed money. I believed that keeping everyone happy was important. And doing that will help everything work better. I wanted to treat his family the way I hoped they would treat me.

Our second round in the shower made me forget about my worries. I felt happy and safe in Jake's arms.

That night while we were lying in bed, I brought up something I'd been thinking about for a while. I wanted to buy a house in a better neighborhood so Lily could go to a good school.

We'd been living in this tiny apartment since we got married. It was only about 600 square feet. I didn't mind the small space, but Lily was starting first grade soon, and there were no good schools near our apartment.

We'd saved enough money to buy a better place over the years. But every time I mentioned it, Jake said we should wait. He wanted to find the perfect location in the best part of the city so we wouldn't have to move again later.

This time, he didn't argue with me. He rubbed my shoulder and kissed my forehead. "Okay. I'll start looking for some good places this week for you to see, and you can tell me which one you like best."

I was so happy to hear him say that. I fell asleep dreaming about our beautiful new house with a big yard for Lily to play in.

The next morning, Jake left early. He dropped Lily off at school on his way to work to save me the trip.

Just a little after Jake left, my phone rang, my best friend Emma called me. She said she wanted to meet up at our favorite coffee shop.

I said yes right away and took an Uber to meet her.

Emma and I were super close, you could mistake us for sisters, we had been best friends ever since college. We told each other everything. She worked as a Lawyer / Legal counselor at a law firm and was always super busy, so it was unusual for her to call me in the morning.

When I walked into the coffee shop, I saw her sitting by the window, typing on her laptop. The sun was shining on her face, and she looked even more pretty and peaceful.

She waved at me, and I sat down across from her. I smiled and asked, "what's going on? You're never free in the morning. You even asked me to meet you so early in the morning."

Emma rolled her eyes at me. "Can't I just want to see my best friend and make sure she's okay?"

"Of course you can!" I took a sip of the latte she ordered for me. "But you're always working and I'm always free. This is weird."

"Ha! Aren't you embarrassed about that? All I see is Jake spoiling you rotten. Don't say I didn't warn you, you're getting too comfortable. You're going to turn into a fool if you're not careful!” She said looking right at me”

She noticed my eyes and she went

"Well, I wanted to check on you,” now looking at me seriously. She goes "You're looking tired. Is everything okay?"

I was quiet for a minute.

For some reason, her words made my heart beat faster. I looked at her and asked, "What do you mean? Is there something you want to tell me?"

She looked down at her laptop like she was hiding something. "No, nothing. I'm just worried about you."

Then she looked up at me again and said, "By the way, I saw Jake three days ago."