"Hey sis, whenever Edmund Dickerson's away on a trip, just plant two cabbages in FarmVille. I'll see it and come over."

I'd come home early. Found the message on Marjorie Swanson's computer by accident.

Every drop of blood in my body turned to ice.

I sat there for a long time, silent, before my trembling hand found the mouse and clicked into her social media feed.

January 17th. Two cabbages planted.

January 25th. Again.

Then February 1st. February 9th.

Every single time, lined up perfectly with my business trips.

It hit me all at once. Last fall, around Thanksgiving, my best friend had come by the house for a visit. Right after that, Marjorie got hooked on FarmVille.

Played it every single day. Couldn't get enough.

I'd teased her about it at the time. Told her nobody played that game anymore.

Now I understood.

I was the one nobody should've been playing.

——

I swallowed everything down and shut the computer off.

That evening, Marjorie came home from work.

She was changing out of her shoes when she spotted me. A flicker of surprise crossed her face.

"Honey, you're back early this time?"

"Work wrapped up ahead of schedule."

I sat on the couch. My voice didn't waver.

She smiled, walked over, set her bag down. Said that was great, asked what I wanted for dinner.

The smile was flawless. Not a single crack.

Same as always, she tied on her apron, washed the vegetables, chopped them. The kitchen filled with the warm smell of a home-cooked meal as the spatula scraped against the pan.

At dinner she piled food onto my plate, asked if the trip had been tiring, said I looked like I'd lost weight.

I answered every question. Like I didn't know a thing.

Afterward she cleared the dishes, wiped down the table, mopped the floor. Didn't miss a single task. The dish towel by the sink was folded into a neat square. Fresh bag in the trash can.

She moved through all of it so quietly, as if she were afraid of disturbing me.

The perfect wife. The kind you couldn't find a single fault with.

After her shower, she came out in a satin camisole nightgown, her hair still half-damp against her shoulders.

She sat down beside me. Rested one hand on my arm.

Her fingertips traced a slow line across my skin. Then she leaned in, her voice soft as velvet.

"Honey, it's been a while since we..."

"Do you want to?"

Before today, I would've caved in a heartbeat. Pulled her into my arms without a second thought.

But those words—plant two cabbages—were lodged in my skull like a needle.

No matter what I did, I couldn't pull it out.

I looked at her.

She was still beautiful.

Soft eyes, lips pressed together in a slight pout, that hint of playful petulance she always wore so well.

I'd looked at this face for five years. Knew it so well I could trace every line with my eyes closed.

But now, with her pressed against me, she felt like a stranger.

A wave of nausea surged up from my stomach.

I pushed her away before I even realized what I was doing.

Her hand slipped off my arm. Her whole body went rigid.

A few seconds of silence. Then she lifted her head, her voice still impossibly gentle.

"Honey, what's wrong?"

"Long ride home. I'm wiped out. Not in the mood. Next time."

I lay down the moment the words left my mouth. Turned my back to her.

She didn't press. Just turned off the lamp.

The sheets rustled for a moment, and then she was there, curled against my back, her arms wrapping around me from behind. Her chin settled into the hollow between my shoulder blades, her breath warm and steady.

"Next time, then."

She murmured it right against my ear. Soft. Sweet.

In the darkness, her arm circled my waist, her palm flat against my stomach, holding me like a gentle lock I couldn't break.

She was asleep in less than ten minutes.

I didn't close my eyes all night.

Every memory I had played on a loop behind my eyelids, over and over.

Marjorie and I met in college.

She was a sophomore. I was a junior.

One afternoon in the library, she sat down across from me and checked out the exact book I'd been reaching for.

She said sorry for the trouble. I said no trouble at all. One thing led to another, and we got close.

When she smiled, her eyes curved into little crescents. She spoke softly, gently. She was the kind of girl who made you want to protect her.

I fell hard.

After graduation, I stayed in Riverport for her. She landed a government position in the city.

By our third year together, I'd bought us a place. I got down on one knee.

She cried and said yes.

On our wedding day, Rufus Gilbert stood right beside me as my best man.

Crisp suit, handing me the ring.

He was my childhood friend. We'd grown up together, tearing through the same neighborhood since before we could tie our own shoes.

He'd started working two years before me. When I was scraping together the down payment on the house, he lent me fifty thousand dollars without blinking.

At the reception, he raised his glass and said, "Brother, Marjorie's a good woman. You better treat her right."

I had my arm around Marjorie. "You know I will."

He grinned. A wide, genuine grin.

Back then, I never could have imagined that Rufus Gilbert's name would reenter my life the way it did.

I replayed that message in my head over and over, countless times.

"Hey sis, whenever Edmund's away on a trip, just plant a couple cabbages in FarmVille. I'll see it and come over."

Planting cabbages. A coded signal.

Every time I left on a business trip, she'd plant cabbages in the game, and he'd see them and come over.

Come over to do what?

I didn't want to think about it. My brain didn't listen.

Every single time I'd dragged my suitcase to the door and said Babe, I'm heading out, she'd wave from the doorway and tell me to come home soon.

Then she'd turn around, open the computer, plant two cabbages in that virtual little field, and signal my best friend.

Coast is clear.

Maybe in the bed I slept in.

Maybe under the comforter I'd paid for.

The more I thought, the worse it hurt.

My fists clenched until my nails bit into my palms.

By the time the sky began to lighten, I'd made a decision.

I carefully lifted her hand off my chest and slid out of bed.

She rolled over, mumbled something unintelligible, and drifted back to sleep.

I picked up my phone and pretended to answer a call.

"Hello, Mr. Wang?"

"Something came up and I need to head back today to handle it, that right?"

"Sure, no problem. I'll call you when I get in."

I kept my voice low on purpose, but clear enough to carry.

I hung up and started packing.

Quiet movements, but enough noise to wake a light sleeper.

Marjorie sat up rubbing her eyes, hair tousled, one strap of her nightgown slipping off her shoulder.

She watched me stuff clothes into my bag, disappointment settling across her face.

"Another emergency trip?"

"Client's got an issue. I need to go back and sort it out."

I coiled the charging cable and tucked it into the side pocket.

She sighed and said she'd been planning to take me to a movie today. She'd already bought the tickets. Now they'd go to waste.

She pouted as she said it, that particular brand of wifely complaint, half whine, half flirtation. Perfectly calibrated. Not too much, not too little.

She kicked off the covers, padded barefoot over to me, and straightened my collar. Then she unpacked my overstuffed bag and reorganized it properly.

She did it all with quiet focus, like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Honey, at least eat breakfast before you go?"

"No time. The train won't wait."

She didn't push it.

At the door, she rose on her tiptoes, one hand curling around the back of my neck, and pressed her lips to mine.

A deep kiss.

Her lips were still soft, carrying that particular warmth of early morning.

She kissed me like she meant it, the tip of her tongue tracing the outline of my lips, slow and deliberate, like she was completing some kind of ritual.

Same as always.

"Be safe out there."

She stood in the doorframe wearing that silk camisole nightgown, smiling at me.

I nodded, turned, and stepped into the elevator.

The moment the doors closed, her smile vanished into the narrowing gap.

I took a cab to the train station and found a corner seat in the waiting hall.

I opened my phone and logged into Messenger.

My finger hovered over the screen for a few seconds.

Then I tapped into her social media feed.

Rufus's name wasn't in the recent visitors list. Or rather, he was probably using a burner account I'd never recognize.

But in the activity feed, the latest entry was crystal clear.

Fifteen minutes ago.

Marjorie had planted two cabbages in FarmVille.

Something seized my chest and squeezed, inch by inch, tighter and tighter.

Cold spread from my sternum out to my limbs. Even my fingertips went numb.

I stared at those two virtual cabbages sitting quietly on the screen, bright green and plump, their pixelated leaves almost garish against the plain little plot of farmland. Next to them were the carrots and corn she'd planted, neat rows, clearly tended every day.

She really was obsessed with that game. Never missed a day.

I used to tease her about it. Told her nobody still played browser games from the Stone Age, that it was ancient history.

She'd laugh and swat my arm. You don't get it. It's nostalgic.

Now I understood.

The nostalgia was real.

It just had nothing to do with the game.

I sat there for a while, then left the train station.

I hailed another cab and went back to the apartment complex.

I didn't go upstairs. I found a quiet spot with a clear line of sight to the building entrance and stood there.

About ten minutes later, a black SUV turned the corner at the end of the street.

A license plate I knew by heart.

Rufus's car.

It pulled up beside the entrance. The engine stayed running.

Two or three minutes passed. Then Marjorie came out.

She'd changed into a dress. A white floral sundress I'd never seen before. Her hair was down, draped over her shoulders, and she'd put on light makeup.

She walked with a bounce in her step, pulled open the passenger door, and slid in.

Before the door even closed all the way, they were kissing.

Rufus had one hand on the steering wheel. The other cradled the back of her head.

She leaned into him, half her body pressed against his.

The kiss went on and on.

I watched from roughly a hundred feet away. Every detail, perfectly clear.

A sharp sting flared in my chest, like the jab of a needle.

Then it was gone.

Everything was gone.

No pain. No anger. No grief.

Just emptiness.

And numbness.

After Rufus drove off, I flagged down a cab. Told the driver to follow the black SUV ahead of us, not too close.

He glanced at me in the rearview mirror. Said nothing. Just nodded.

About twenty minutes later, the SUV pulled into the underground parking garage at Galleria Mall.

I got out two spaces behind them and followed at a distance.

Marjorie had her arm looped through Rufus's. They walked side by side, shoulders touching, tilting their heads toward each other now and then to talk.

Something he said made her laugh, her eyes crinkling into little crescents.

I knew that laugh too well.

She used to laugh like that in college.

After we got married, it almost disappeared.

She smiled when she held my arm too, but it was different. That smile was gentle, composed. A wife's smile.

Now, on Rufus's arm, she laughed like a girl.

They went into a clothing store first. Marjorie tried on two outfits, spinning in front of the mirror after each one, turning back to ask Rufus if it looked good.