He smiled and handed me a fitting.
Nothing about him looked guilty.
That made it worse.
For the rest of the afternoon, I barely spoke. Every memory from the past seven months rearranged itself in my mind.
The appointments.
The whispered phone calls Renee took outside.
The evenings she came home faintly smelling of paint, which I had believed came from a clinic renovation she once mentioned.
Now every detail looked like evidence.
When I got home, Eli ran to me wearing one of my old baseball caps backward.
“Daddy, look! I’m you.”
I picked him up and held him so tightly he started squirming.
Renee appeared in the kitchen doorway, wiping her hands on a towel.
“Dinner’s ready.”
She looked exactly like the woman I had loved for six years.
For one dangerous second, I almost believed I had imagined it all.
Then I heard her voice again.
Every single word.
Dinner was painfully normal. Eli said green beans made him “strong like Daddy.” Renee laughed and kissed the top of his head. I smiled when I had to, but every ordinary thing felt fake.
After Eli fell asleep, Renee sat beside me on the couch with two mugs of tea.
“You’ve been quiet.”
“Long day.”
She studied me.
“Work?”
I almost asked her who was moving in next week.
Instead, I took the mug and said, “Thanks.”
She looked relieved.
That relief broke something inside me.
Before sunrise, while she took Eli to daycare, I packed a duffel bag and left my wedding ring on the dresser.
By noon, I was at my brother Mason’s house.
Renee called before I had even unpacked.
Then again.
Then again.
By nightfall, my phone showed eleven missed calls and seven texts.
Calvin, please answer.
You’re scaring me.
I don’t understand.
Please come home.
I read every message.
I answered none.
Two days later, I met with a divorce attorney.
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