Another long day at work, another round of dishes, homework, laundry, and pretending I wasn\u2019t exhausted. I slid under the blanket and turned onto my side, facing away from the lamp. Beside me, Adrian was still awake, the blue light from his phone glowing across his face.<\/p>\n
I closed my eyes and pretended to fall asleep, the way I sometimes did when I was desperate for him to pull me close like he used to.<\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
The room was quiet for a few minutes. I could hear the soft hum of the air conditioner, the occasional car passing outside, the faint tapping of his thumb on the screen.<\/p>\n
Then he stopped.<\/p>\n
I heard him take a deep, shaky breath. Not the sigh of a man tired from work\u2026 the sound of someone who\u2019s been carrying something too heavy for too long.<\/p>\n
I thought he was about to get up and grab some water.<\/p>\n
Instead, I heard something else.<\/p>\n
His voice. Barely above a whisper.<\/p>\n
\u201cLord\u2026 I don\u2019t know how to handle this. I don\u2019t want to hurt Mia\u2026 but I\u2019m scared.\u201d<\/p>\n
My name.
\nMia.<\/p>\n
It was like someone poured ice water straight into my chest.<\/p>\n
I stayed still. My eyelashes didn\u2019t even twitch. He thought I was asleep, so he kept going.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I tell her\u2026 I might lose her. But if I don\u2019t\u2026 I know I\u2019m wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
My fingers curled under the blanket to stop them from trembling. My heart pounded so loudly I was sure he\u2019d hear it.<\/p>\n
Lose me?
\nFor what?
\nWhat had he done?<\/p>\n
He shifted on the bed, the mattress dipping, then a moment later I heard his footsteps leaving the room. The door opened softly, then clicked shut. A few seconds later, his voice floated down the hallway from the living room \u2014 cracked, defeated, talking to himself like a man cornered by his own conscience.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t mean for it to happen,\u201d he whispered. \u201cI should have said something right away\u2026 I should have told her\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Told me what?<\/p>\n
In ten years of marriage, I had never heard Adrian sound like that. Not when we were broke. Not when we lost a pregnancy. Not even when his mother was dying in the hospital.<\/p>\n
But now, he sounded\u2026 broken.<\/p>\n
A thousand ugly thoughts rushed through my head at once.<\/p>\n
Does he have another woman?
\nIs he in trouble?
\nDid he lose all our savings?
\nIs he sick?
\nIs he leaving?<\/p>\n
I lay there in the dark, clutching the sheet until my knuckles hurt, feeling like my whole life had been quietly tilting without me noticing \u2014 and tonight it had finally started to fall.<\/p>\n
The next morning, I played dumb.<\/p>\n
I got up, cooked breakfast, packed the kids\u2019 lunches, poured his coffee. I made stupid little jokes, pretending everything was normal.<\/p>\n
But he wasn\u2019t normal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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