I Convinced Myself She Left Me — Then I Found the Voicemails My Assistant Had Deleted

That faith had justified every missed dinner, every canceled trip, every night I came home after Rosalie was asleep.

I was not neglecting my marriage; I was tending the fire that kept us all warm, and the fire needed constant feeding, and no one else could feed it.

That was the story.

And then I stepped away from it completely, in a hospital, for eighteen days and then permanently, and the fire did not go out.

The deal closed without me.

The firm ran without me.