The marriage and the responsibilities were different.

He had chosen to end one.

The other would still require his attention, whether he found a comfortable way to describe it or not.

That was what I wrote on my own scrap of paper before Marjorie arrived: the questions I needed answered for the boys, not the words I wanted to hear about Claire.

I listed visits, school forms, expenses, transport, and how cancellations would be communicated.

The last line remained empty for anything I had forgotten.