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.

“Paul, thank goodness you came over, because no one here will tell me where Brian’s hiding.”

He stopped right in front of me, staring into my face as though hunting for words that wouldn’t come.

Then his throat moved, and tears I had never once seen in his eyes spilled down his cheeks.

“He honestly hasn’t told you anything, has he, Hannah?”

My fingers clenched around the cloth handle of the lunch bag until the plastic container inside clicked.

All the late nights, the missed holidays, the forgotten birthdays, and the faraway look in Brian’s eyes suddenly came together into one smothering knot of dread.
PART 2