I Came Home After Four Years Working Abroad and Found My Wife Starving in Our Backyard—Then My Mother Asked About the Money I Hadn’t Told Her Was Fake

She wanted normal.

We traveled once.

Back to Hamburg.

Phoebe had never seen where I spent those four years.

I showed her the apartment.

The tram stop.

The plant gates.

The bakery where I bought coffee after night shifts.