Her eyes filled with tears.

We finished our coffee talking about ordinary things: her son’s new school, her mother’s arthritis, the strange weather.

I couldn’t fix her marriage and didn’t try.

On the drive home, I reflected on how easily the scandal could have turned into a story with neat heroes and villains.

Dennis had treated me cruelly.

Gary appeared to have participated in financial misconduct.

But there were spouses, children, employees, and other people living in the shadow of decisions they hadn’t made.