The morning sun spilled like honey through the open curtains of Clair's modest bedroom. She sat at the edge of her bed, quietly buttoning up her blouse. Her fingers moved slowly, her mind replaying her dirty deeds from yesterday—Brad's warm breath on her neck, the husky sound of her name on his lips, their bodies tangled in the sheets.
Her phone buzzed.
Brad: "Thinking of you already."
She smiled slowly, then quickly wiped it off her face. She turned to see Clarissa sprawled out across the bed, curly locks and all, with her little arms wrapped around a pink unicorn.
"Mommy?" Clarissa's sleepy voice murmured. "You going to work?"
Clair leaned over and kissed her forehead. "Yes, baby. But I'll be back before bedtime. Now go brush your teeth."
In the kitchen, Toby stood sipping coffee, dressed for work. His broad shoulders were relaxed, his face unreadable behind his glasses as he scrolled through his phone.
"You working overtime again?" he asked casually.
Clair nodded, feeling that familiar squeeze of guilt in her chest. "Mmhmm. The hospital's short-staffed. Can you take Clarissa to school today?"
Toby nodded, without any further questions. He wasn't the jealous type. He trusted her. And that's what made this so much worse.
---
The days blurred after that.
Every moment not spent with her family was stolen and buried in Brad's arms—every glance, every touch, every kiss, every thrust, nudging her further past the point of no return. Brad never pressed her with questions about her personal life, respecting the invisible wall she'd built. Yet, with every meeting, and every time she was in his bed or every time she felt him inside her, she knew that wall couldn't stay up much longer.
It was a bright Tuesday morning, and Claire had just managed to escape Jonas's flirting jokes after he dozed off. She stood in the kitchen which was just as big as her entire house, pouring herself a cup of coffee.
Brad walked into the kitchen, and leaned against the island, watching her with a quiet smile on his face.
"You know what I keep thinking about?"
Claire flashed him a distracted smile,
"If you say my lasagna skills, I'll have to remind you I'm a nurse, not a chef."
Brad chuckling,
"No, though those skills are top-tier. I keep thinking about what it would be like to just… get away with you to somewhere nice. No Jonas, no hospital. Just us."
Clair grip tightened slightly on her cup
"Brad…"
"There's a medical tech conference in Paris next weekend. Now that I'm on the hospital board, I've been invited and I want you to come with me. No obligations, no pressure. Just three days... somewhere we can just…be. Plus, you know what they say about Paris."
An almost whispered, "No. What do they say?"
"I have no idea." Brad replied with a chuckle.
"Brad, you don't even know everything about me."
He walked over to her and gently took her hand to his lips for a light kiss,
"But, I know how I feel when I'm with you and how I feel when I'm not. And I highly recommend being with you.
Come to Paris with me, Clair."
A conflicted and slow nod, "Okay… I guess a weekend in Paris might be just what the doctor ordered.
Brad grinned.
"I know, I've got the prescription right here." he said, pulling her close and pressing a slow deep kiss to her eager lips.
That evening when she got back home, Claire could barely look at Toby's face, from Clarissa's happy chit chat at the dinner table, to the bed she shared with him.
Toby liked to busy himself with his tablet last thing before shutting his eyes for the night, Nd Clair hoped he'd just shut his eyes and go to sleep
"You've been quiet all night, what's up?.
"Dammit! No such luck."
"Nothing much really, I've just been thinking. The hospital's sending a few of us to Paris fo a trauma care seminar. Dunno if I should go, I'm worried about Clarissa."
Toby dropped his tablet and sat up slightly
"Paris huh? That's fancy. When?"
Clair carefully avoided eye contact with him.
"Next weekend. Just three days. It's all expenses apparently, but we'll be swamped with lectures and simulations… nothing fancy at all."
"Still, that's impressive. And although Clarissa and I will miss you, but you should go. You've absolutely earned this."
Clair forced a smile, hoping it didn't look like a guilty smile.
"Thanks. Toby."
Toby reached for her hand, "Hey, I'm proud of you, you know that right?"
Claire nodded, and with a tight voice, "I've always known."
---
She'd expected the lie to weigh heavily on her soul, but she found herself justifying her lies, after all she really was on a "work related" trip to Paris. So, she withheld some details, so what? It didn't change the fact that she was in Paris for the weekend. And technically, that wasn't lying.
But, she didn't know what bothered her more: that Toby didn't suspect anything her, or that she was relieved he didn't.
From the window of their suite at Hôtel Plaza Athénée, Paris looked like a painting in motion. The Eiffel Tower loomed in the distance, shrouded in soft mist, the Seine curling around the city like a ribbon of light.
Brad poured her a glass of wine, his eyes never leaving hers. "I can't believe how beautiful you look in this city," he said.
Clair stepped into the silk evening dress he'd gifted her—deep red, hugging every curve with shameless grace. She turned to face him, letting his gaze sweep over her.
Paris had a way of turning even the simplest facets of reality into something magical. They walked the Champs-Élysées, strolled hand in hand through Montmartre, laughed over macarons and stole kisses beneath streetlamps.
And at night they returned to the suite with flushed skin and ravenous touches, as if time would collapse before morning.
---
On what would be their last night in the city, Brad took her to a quiet restaurant along the Seine—its candlelit terrace framed by ivy and old stone.
The dessert arrived in a porcelain dish, but Clair barely noticed it. Her eyes were fixed on Brad, who had shifted in his seat and pulled something small from his coat pocket.
Her breath caught and she suddenly felt like her head was spinning.
Brad brandished in his hand a delicate ring glimmering in the low light—platinum with a marquise diamond, slender and elegant. He didn't get down on one knee. He didn't need to. His voice was steady and low.
"I know you're keeping something from me," Brad said, "but I also know how I feel when I'm with you. I don't care what the truth is. I just know... I want to wake up beside you every morning, for the rest of my life, Clair. Say yes."
Clair's world stopped spinning. Her heart ached with a strange mix of joy and dread.
Yes, she wanted this. She wanted to believe it could all be this simple.
But the truth is that it wasn't,it couldn't.
Still, she smiled and nodded. "Yes."
A foolish decision.
---
Back at the hotel, she slipped the ring off her finger and placed it carefully in her purse. Her hands trembled slightly. She didn't want the lie to taint something so beautiful.
They made love that night like never before, exploding together in a blaze of shivering pleasure.
—
Standing in front of the bathroom mirror in her own home a week later, the house smelled like lavender and warm laundry.
Claire washed her face slowly, and then walked back into the bedroom to tuck her new ring under her stack of underwear a the bedroom drawer, away from prying eyes.
Clarissa's laughter echoed from the living room where Toby was watching cartoons with he
"Everything okay in there?" Toby called.
"Yeah!" she answered quickly, heart pounding. "Just freshening up."
She walked into the sitting room and kissed Clarissa's forehead before moving to the kitchen where Brad was getting a beer from the fridge.
"You're glowing," Toby said, wrapping an arm around her waist. "That trip must've really done a number on you."
"Guess I needed it more than I thought."
Toby smiled. "maybe you should do it more often. You deserve to be happy, Clair."
She looked at him then, really looked. His eyes still held that gentleness, that constant, familiar love. And for the first time in weeks, she felt tears sting the corners of her eyes.
If only he knew the irony of those words.