I showed up at the hospital to surprise my husband during his shift. But the second one of his coworkers saw me, all the color left his face. Then his eyes filled with tears. “He hasn’t said a word to you, has he?” Ben and I had been married eleven years, and for every one of those years, I had shared him with the hospital. He was a remarkably gifted surgeon.

Brian’s voice cracked completely.

“When Walsh wrecked my career overnight, I stupidly talked myself into believing I could fix everything before you ever had to worry.”

“You turned into the exact man my father was, Brian, hiding behind a mask while our life fell apart around us.”

He winced as if I’d hit him.

“You missed Emma’s eighth birthday party while she sat by the living room window until it got dark, asking when her daddy was coming home.”

“I was stuck in an eleven-hour deposition with the hospital’s malpractice lawyers, and they wouldn’t let me out of the boardroom.”