“Why?” Ethan asked before remembering the rule.
Samantha answered anyway.
“Because when I told the story that way, I felt less guilty.”
Ethan closed his eyes.
That was the first explanation she had given all day that sounded fully honest.
She had not simply deceived other people.
She had edited her marriage until her own behavior fit inside the edited version.
Samantha continued.
“I told him we were basically separated emotionally.”
“We were not.”
“I told him you cared more about money than me.”
“That was not fair.”
“I told him you would never change.”
“I did not tell him how many times you asked me to go to counseling.”
Ethan felt his throat tighten.
“I did not tell him about Santa Fe.”
“I did not tell him that I was the one on my phone the whole time.”
“I did not tell him you planned breakfast Saturdays.”
“I did not tell him I stopped going.”
Each admission hurt because it restored pieces of Ethan’s memory that Samantha’s earlier accusations had made him question.
He had not been a perfect husband.
He had worked too much sometimes.
He had become practical when Samantha wanted tenderness.
He had occasionally treated problems like systems to solve instead of emotions to share.
But he had tried.
For hours, Samantha had spoken as though the marriage simply happened to her.
Now she was finally acknowledging that she had shaped it too.
“What happened last night?” Ethan asked.
Samantha’s voice trembled.
“I met him for dinner.”
“You told me it was a work event.”
“I know.”
“We argued.”
“About what?”
“He told me he was done waiting for me to decide what I wanted.”
“He said I kept using him as an escape from a marriage I refused to leave.”
Ethan frowned.
That did not make Dylan noble.
It did make the situation more complicated than Ethan expected.
“What did you say?”
“I said I did not know whether I wanted to leave.”
“He said that was my answer.”
“He got up to leave.”
“I followed him.”
Samantha stopped speaking.
Ethan waited.
“I had already reserved the hotel room,” she said.
Ethan looked up.
“So you planned it before dinner.”
“I planned the possibility.”
The wording almost made Ethan angry again.
Samantha corrected herself.
“No.”
“I am doing it again.”
“I reserved the room because I thought we might sleep together.”
Ethan said nothing.
“I chose the hotel because it was far enough from our neighborhood that I thought nobody would see me.”
“I asked Clare to cover because I knew I might not come home.”
