I stood there, my mouth hanging open in surprise.  Manda's surprise mimicked my own as she looked down at her hand, unbelieving.

"Oh, my god. Oh, god, I'm sorry," she stammered, looking ashamed and startled.

All of my anger melted away and I suddenly felt weak, defeated.  Michael was standing next to his car, seeming unsure of what to say or do.  I glanced over at him and we made eye contact.  He must've seen something in my eyes and rushed over to where Manda and I stood near the front door.

"Manda, I think it's best if you call someone else to come get you.  You're no longer welcome here," Michael said firmly and led me back inside, leaving her standing outside.

He touched my face tenderly and turned it from side to side, staring at the red handprint across my cheek.  He titled my face upwards and leaned in to kiss me.  When I pulled away from him, I was surprised to see tears in his eyes.

"Honey, I'm so sorry.  I should've talked to you first, I shouldn't have let her stay the night without talking to you.  I messed up, I know that.  But I'm telling you, nothing happened between us.  Manda's in a tough spot right now and I was just trying to do the right thing by helping a friend.  Her and I talked a lot while you were living with Kate and she was a good friend to me, I don't know what got into her..." he trailed off.

"Then why didn't you come to bed?  Where did you sleep, the couch?  The guest room with her?"

"What? No! I stayed up too late trying to comfort her and I fell asleep in the living room.  I didn't wake up until this morning!  Manda was already in the kitchen when I woke up so I made us some coffee.  That's it."

I searched his face for answers and saw none.  I felt a weird lack of emotion, a sort of empty feeling and I was oddly okay with that.  I racked my brain for a response, a question, anything.  Finally, I said the only thing I could think to say.

"You're lying."