Sam stood at the counter of the nearby Chinese take-out restaurant, anxiously awaiting her order. She had just finished at the dance school and she was exhausted. She wanted to get her food and go home, where Carly had probably entertained herself all day by taking it upon herself to unpack her entire apartment.

At last, once Sam's eggrolls were ready, she headed out towards her car.

It was late, yet the streets were relatively busy. She spotted people still dressed in their work clothes dragging their feet home and people just stepping out for the night.

God, I hope Carly doesn't find any clubs or anything around here, Sam thought as she approached her car. I swear, the last thing I want to do is go out. She can go on her own if she gets any ideas like-

She suddenly turned around, looking back across the street.

Standing underneath a streetlight was none other than Sarah. She was talking to a man, but Sam couldn't see his face.

Is that Freddie? Sam frowned as she strained her neck to get a better look. No…No, it can't be. Freddie's shorter than that guy.

And sure enough, the man soon looked up and confirmed that he was not, in fact, Freddie.

Sam raised an eyebrow. Wonder if Freddie knows this guy…

She continued to watch, unable to bring herself to look away. But after a moment Sarah touched the man's shoulder and the two turned and walked up the steps of the apartment building behind them.

Well, Sam said to herself as she stood there, still staring at the spot where Sarah and the man had just been. There are plenty of explanations for that…that guy could be her brother. He could be a family friend. Or there's always the chance that Sarah's a backstabbing, two-faced cheater…Yeah, I'm liking that idea better.

Sam quickly got into her car and drove back home, still replaying the scene in her head.

I knew that chick was trouble, Sam said to herself as she hurried into her building and began climbing up to the third floor and opened her apartment door.

Carly was, as she suspected, in the middle of organizing her living room.

"Sarah's cheating on Freddie," Sam announced, tossing her keys down.

"What?" Carly frowned, setting down a vase she had been polishing. "She's cheating on him. Oh my God, that's awful!"

"Fitting, though, isn't it?" Sam said. "Terrible excuse for a person…cheater. Makes perfect sense."

"Wait," Carly said slowly. "How'd you find out? Did Freddie tell you and-"

"Oh I'm sure Freddie has no idea," Sam said.

"Well then if he didn't tell you, how do you know?" Carly said. "I doubt Sarah herself would've told you and-"

"I saw her, just now," Sam explained. "She was on the street talking to some guy, she touched his shoulder and then they went into some apartment."
"And?"

"And what?" Sam said. "That's it."

"Sam," Carly sighed. "I hardly think that's evidence that she's cheating on Freddie."

"Yes it is!" Sam defended.

"She could've been a friend or something," Carly reasoned.

"But she's horrible."
"Horrible people can have friends," Carly said simply.

"Come on!" Sam said, somewhat irritated that Carly wasn't seeing this her way. "Sarah's the worst, you said so yourself! You're telling me you don't think she's capable of cheating on Freddie?"

"Sam, I barely know her," Carly said calmly. "Sure, I don't get the best vibe from her, but that doesn't automatically make her a cheater."

"But she went into an apartment with some dude!"

"She's also a real estate agent," Carly reminded her. "She could've been showing him the place so he could consider moving there."

"Carly!"

"Sam, it's probably nothing," Carly said. "Look, Freddie clearly loves Sarah. She's probably a nice, kind person once you actually get to know her, otherwise Freddie wouldn't have married her in the first place."

"You said just yesterday that Freddie couldn't even see how whipped he was!" Sam exclaimed.

"A lot of wives have their husbands whipped," Carly shrugged. "And they're perfectly happy with their marriages. Yes, Freddie might not realize that his wife is a little bossy, but-but I'm sure he would know if his wife was cheating on him."

"Yeah, like no one's ever been cheated on without realizing it," Sam said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "And you remember how clueless Freddie is! Back when we dated in high school it was like-"

"That was years ago, Sam," Carly said gently. "Listen. I'm not saying Sarah's a saint. She could be cheating on Freddie. But you can't just assume that from what you saw; especially when you're not in the clearest headspace right now and-"

"Oh so what?" Sam snapped. "Because I used have a drinking problem I suddenly don't know what I see?"

"No!" Carly said at once. "I just meant…you hate Sarah, that much is clear. It makes sense that you'd view any situation with her with a little bias."

"Yeah, well, hopefully Freddie will have a little more faith in what I saw than my best friend," Sam mumbled.

"Sam! You-You can't tell Freddie this!"

"Why not?" Sam demanded. "He should know if his wife is cheating on-"

"You don't know if she's cheating!" Carly said, and Sam could tell she was struggling not to raise her voice. "And-And if you go to Freddie and start accusing his wife that-that's only going to wreck stuff between you and him."

Sam didn't reply. She supposed she did have a point.

"I-I'm not trying to criticize your judgment," Carly said softly. "Really, I'm not. But-But it just really isn't a good idea to make a whole thing out of something that may be nothing."

Sam stared out into her newly unpacked living room, the anger in her veins subsiding a little bit. Now that she thought about it, what she saw really didn't constitute significant evidence to prove Sara was cheating on Freddie, no matter what she herself believed.

"Okay," Sam conceded. "Okay, I-I won't say anything to Freddie."

"Good," Carly said, relieved.

Sam cleared her throat as she stepped into the living room and sat down on her couch. "Well, um, the place looks great, Carly. Thanks for unpacking everything…"

"Oh, it was fun," Carly said, smiling. "I love decorating. I'm thinking I'll tackle your bedroom tomorrow. If-If that's okay with you…"

"Knock yourself out," Sam said. "Honestly, it's probably not gonna get done anytime soon unless you do it."

"Great," Carly said brightly. "Well, I'm going to go take a shower now and then maybe after we can watch a movie or something."

"I think I'm just gonna go to bed, actually," Sam said.

"But you haven't even touched that Chinese food you picked up," Carly frowned.

"I'm not too hungry," Sam replied.

"Um, well okay then," Carly nodded. "Good night."

She started towards the bathroom, but then stopped and turned back to Sam. She walked across the room and picked up a box.

"Um, I-I didn't touch this stuff," she said softly as she handed the box to Sam. "I didn't know what you wanted to do with it."

Just like that, Freddie and Sarah were erased from Sam's mind as she slowly opened the box, feeling an overwhelming rush of emotions as she looked inside. And then, as twisted as it was, Sam suddenly found herself wishing the worst thing that had happened to her was her spouse possibly cheating on her.

Because even that couldn't be as painful as dealing with this.

….

It was past two in the morning, yet Freddie was wide-awake, hunched over his laptop. Ever since he had put Lauren to bed he had been searching the web for information that he thought could be of some help to Sam. As he scrolled through countless web pages, the words 'post-traumatic stress' and 'depression' kept popping up, each time piercing Freddie's heart with a fresh sting.

Suddenly he heard the door open and Sarah walked in.

"Hey," she said, giving him a small smile as she hung up her coat. "What are you still doing up?"

"Nothing," Freddie sighed. It was true. He had found nothing that would help him help Sam. All the search results had suggested counseling and medications; options that weren't exactly feasible for him considering he wasn't supposed to know about Sam's attack in the first place.

Sarah sighed as she sat down next to Freddie. "Listen, about last night…I'm-"

"I'm sorry," Freddie said quickly. "I-I shouldn't have given you a hard time about not spending time with my friends. You have work to do and-and that's that."

Sarah looked slightly taken aback. "Oh…well, thank you, honey."

"I just…Sam and Carly mean a lot to me," Freddie sighed. "But I understand if you can't get out of work to hang around with us sometimes."

Sarah didn't reply.

"But, um, look, Sarah," Freddie said. "I would really appreciate it if when you do run into them if you could maybe be a-a little…friendlier."
Sarah raised an eyebrow. "Friendlier?"

"I know it's not that you're not friendly," Freddie said quickly. "But then again we've been married for six years. I know you. Sam and Carly don't know how great you are yet. I'd hate for them to get the wrong idea of you."

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Freddie, I don't know what you're not grasping here, honey. I don't need to be friends with these people. It really doesn't bother me what they think of me."

"Yes, but-"

"And I've been perfectly civil to them for your benefit," Sarah continued. "Even though, well…"

"Well what?" Freddie frowned.

"Even though I don't like them to begin with!" Sarah said. "That Carly girl…she's so perky."

"You met her yesterday!" Freddie defended. "And-And that perkiness grows on you. She's a great friend and she's always there for you and-"

"And that Sam," Sarah went on. "She's something else."

Freddie suddenly felt his jaw clench up.

"I mean first of all, she clearly does not have her life in order," Sarah said. "No one in her right mind would give up being a lawyer to teach kids how to dance. And whenever I see her she seems like she's off in another world and-"

"Sarah, that's not her fault!" Freddie said loudly, taking his wife by surprise.

"What do you mean that's not her-"

"She was attacked!" Freddie hissed. "She was raped!"

Sarah said nothing.

"That's why she came to Texas, not to find me!" Freddie said. "She left because, I dunno, I guess she couldn't stand living in the same place where she went through the worst time of her life. It must've been hard for her, okay?"

Sarah crossed her arms. "Well," she said simply. "She's not there anymore. So I don't see any reason for her not to grown up and get over it."

And with that she spun on her heel and stormed off to their bedroom, leaving Freddie standing there, stunned.

He stood there for several minutes, wondering how his wife could say something so-so cruel.

And so, for the first time in over six years of marriage, Freddie grabbed the extra pillows and blankets from the hall closet and slept on the sofa.