I stood alone in the hotel lobby, suitcase at my feet, staring at the text from my husband: “Relax, it’s just a prank.”

Ethan: Don’t make this weird.

I didn’t reply.

At 12:43 a.m., Ethan called.

I let it ring twice, then picked up. “What?”

He sounded irritated, not sorry. “Where the hell did you go?”

“You left me in the lobby.”

“It was a joke, Claire.”

“Explain the funny part.”

He exhaled sharply.

“You always do this. You can’t take a joke, then you play the victim.”

I almost laughed. “The victim?

Ethan, I paid for this entire trip.”