Because the thing my husband was doing at that table, on the ninth day, in a concerned voice, was building the record.

He needed a documented, professional, third-party account of a woman coming apart — and every day I did not eat, I was helping him.

Ruiz’s exact words: “He’s writing the last chapter first.

Let him.

Every appointment he books is a date on a timeline with his name on it.”

The second thing is the rule I broke.

On the tenth day, Christopher went to Columbus for a day and a half.

And I went into the study.