Video attachment.
My hands shook so badly I almost dropped the device opening it.
At first, the footage looked ordinary.
Mark helping Ava from the car.
Ava holding Mr. Bun-Bun against her chest.
Then a woman stepped into frame.
Tall brunette.
Cream-colored coat.
She crouched down smiling at Ava like they already knew each other.
Confusion flickered through me immediately.
Then the woman handed Ava a bottled drink with a café logo on it.
Ava smiled brightly and took it without hesitation.
Then the woman touched Mark’s arm.
Not casually.
Intimately.
My stomach dropped straight through the floor.
The footage continued.
Mark and the woman walked Ava toward the daycare entrance together.
Then they returned to the car smiling at each other.
I rewound the video with trembling fingers and zoomed in on the woman’s face.
The air vanished from my lungs.
Lauren.
Mark’s coworker.
