New Route: Mrs. Keagan – The Proposition** **Opening Choice C: The Present Tense** Adults only. (Name updated: Rebecca)

**New Route: Mrs. Keagan – The Proposition**

Opening Choice C: The Present Tense

Adults only.

(Name updated: Rebecca)

Bill sat on the edge of the bed while Rebecca took out her earrings at the dresser. The bedroom lamp cast a low yellow light. He watched her reflection instead of her back.

For a long moment neither of them spoke. The silence had weight. Finally Bill asked the only question that mattered.

“Is it still happening?”

Rebecca’s hands stilled. She set the second earring down carefully, then turned to face him. She didn’t pretend not to understand.

“Yes.”

The word landed between them and stayed there.

Bill nodded once, slowly, as if he had already known the answer and only needed to hear it said out loud. He looked down at his hands, then back up at her.

“How long?”

“A few months.” Rebecca’s voice was quiet but steady. “It started as something I told myself was temporary. Attention. A mistake I could stop whenever I wanted. I didn’t stop.”

She stayed where she was, arms loosely crossed, waiting to see what he would do with the truth.

Bill was silent for several breaths. When he spoke again his voice was lower.

“Do you want it to stop?”

Rebecca’s eyes flicked away for a second, then returned to his. “I don’t know. Part of me does. Part of me doesn’t. That’s the honest answer.”

He absorbed that. The bedroom felt smaller.

“And me?” he asked. “Where do I fit in whatever this is now?”

Rebecca walked over and sat on the opposite corner of the bed, leaving space between them. She looked tired in a way that had nothing to do with the hour.

“You’re my husband. I still love you. That hasn’t changed. But I also haven’t been able to stop what’s been happening outside this house. I don’t expect you to be fine with it. I just… couldn’t keep pretending it wasn’t real when you finally asked.”

Bill stared at the floor between his feet. The question had been simple. The answer had opened a door he wasn’t sure he could close again.

He lifted his head.

“I need to know who.”

Rebecca held his gaze. “Do you want names, or do you want the shape of it first?”

Current Options

1. Bill asks for the full list of names and details.

2. Bill says he doesn’t want names yet—he wants to know how often and whether she plans to continue.

3. Bill admits he already suspected and has been waiting for her to confirm it.

4. Bill asks whether she still wants him in her bed at all.

5. Rebecca offers to stop, but her voice makes it clear she is not certain she can.

Reply with a number (or combination) to continue the conversation.