She didn’t come in until 7:40.

When she finally walked through the door, she kissed my cheek and asked about my day, her smile easy and flawless.

Fifteen minutes in a dark car in her own driveway, and then a smile with nothing behind it that I could see.

I said nothing.

I did not know how to ask a question that might unmake everything, so I lay awake beside her instead, listening to her breathe, cataloguing a stranger.

Chapter 5 — Two in the Morning