A duplex in North Park and a small commercial unit in El Cajon that her father had bought in 1994 with money nobody had, and which by 2023 was worth something considerable.

Those properties were hers alone, and they stayed in her name for the entire marriage, and Margaret would eventually learn that this had been the subject of a great many conversations in that household that she had never heard about.

Nathan was a real estate consultant.

That was the phrase, and Margaret noticed at some point around year six that in twelve years she had never fully understood what it meant, and that every time she had asked, she had received an answer that sounded complete and left her knowing nothing.

He drove a new car every three years.

He wore very good suits.