“You told Dylan our marriage was already ending.”
“I was confused.”
“You told your friends I would never leave.”
Samantha’s face hardened.
“Clare should not have repeated a private conversation.”
Ethan nodded slowly.
“There it is.”
“What?”
“The first thing you are truly angry about.”
Samantha stared at him.
“You are angry that Clare told me.”
“That is not fair.”
“You are angry that Dylan told me.”
“That is not what I said.”
“You are angry that the backup saved the photo.”
“Stop twisting this.”
“You are angry that I called a lawyer.”
Samantha slammed her palm against the counter.
“Yes, Ethan, I am angry that my husband decided to destroy our marriage before having one adult conversation with me.”
Ethan looked at her for a long moment.
Then he pointed toward the clock above the pantry.
“It is nine sixteen in the morning.”
Samantha frowned.
“You walked in sixteen minutes ago.”
He kept his voice calm.
“You admitted sleeping with another man less than a minute after I asked.”
“You lied about the night before that admission.”
“You lied for weeks before that night.”
“You built an alibi before leaving the house.”
“You reserved the room yourself.”
“You told the other man I knew our marriage was over when I did not.”
“You told your friends I was too weak to leave.”
Ethan paused.
“Do not tell me I destroyed something this morning.”
Samantha’s eyes filled with tears.
Ethan had seen those tears before.
He had comforted them after fights with her mother.
He had comforted them after bad work reviews.
He had comforted them after their second failed attempt to have a child.
That memory struck him harder than he expected.
They had wanted a family once.
They had sat together in a fertility clinic waiting room three years earlier while Samantha squeezed his hand so tightly his fingers went numb.
They had cried in the car afterward.
They had promised each other that marriage would still be enough if children never came.
For years, Ethan believed that promise was one of the strongest things between them.
Now he wondered when Samantha stopped believing it.
Her tears grew.
“I did love you,” she said.
Ethan felt the past tense land harder than every accusation.
He looked away.
Samantha seemed to realize what she had said.
“I do love you.”
Ethan did not answer.
“I said that wrong.”
“I know.”
“No, you do not.”
“I know exactly what you meant.”
Samantha stepped toward him.
Ethan raised one hand.
She stopped.
That was another new thing between them.
