evious life, she had never once suggested we

hat had loved her for a decade despite everything, scream

coming out faster than I i

er mouth softened. Her eyebrows, which had been

sed to end around ten. We could drive up to

. It felt unreal, like a drea

er phon

screen flashed,

a

The brief softness vanished

a panic I had never heard her use for me. "What

wing paler. "Okay. Okay, I' m coming.

even bothering to look at me. "I hav

ped and finally turned to me. Her eyes we

my pockets, my face calm. I ha

est. In my past life, I would have been furious, jealous. I

ead,"

d, confuse

you. You

cion. "Why are you being lik

me. Angry? I was shattered.

voice even. "It' s Mark. He' s always been

If he was sick, she brought him soup. If he was sad, she spent hours on the phone with him. I had tried to te

of being a jealous, controlling husb

I repeated. "Make

eant being at Mark' s bedside on our wedding day,

is was the starting point. She needed

e door and ope

Don' t worry about anythi

ns in her eyes. Then, without another word, she ran o

the fake calm finally breaking. The first

e second.