Chapter 5 — The Harmless Numbers Guy

To understand why my quiet did not mean what Wendy thought it meant, you have to understand what Wendy thought I was.

For six years, my wife had regarded me as a harmless numbers guy — a soft, conflict-averse, mild little man who was good with a spreadsheet and useless at everything that mattered.

She said it, more or less, to my face, and she said it, I later learned, in far less kind terms to her friends at their weekend brunches. Luca’s too soft to survive without me, was one of her favorites.

She thought my dislike of confrontation was cowardice.

She thought my calm was passivity.