3: 3

Once I'd decided to leave, I started clearing out everything I didn't want.

This place had been decorated the way I liked it. Most of what was in it, I had chosen.

Janet had said she wanted me to live somewhere that felt good, somewhere that made me happy the moment I opened my eyes and the moment I came home.

The curtains were the gray-blue I picked.

The couch was the one I finally settled on after trying a dozen others.

The painting on the wall—I had done nothing more than glance at it twice, and she'd had someone hang it in my study the next day.

Now, thinking it over slowly, I saw that this was never my home at all. It was a cage she had built to my exact measurements.

Things I once loved, I couldn't stand to look at anymore.

So I swept the whole lot of it into black trash bags.

When it was all done, I pulled out the suitcase and packed only what mattered.

Janet came in from outside, frowning.

"Why does the place look so empty?"

I didn't look up, kept packing. "Clearing out what I don't want. I'm going to buy some new things."

"As long as you're happy. Let me know if you're short on money." Her eyes landed on the bare desk. "I'm going away on a work trip in a few days. Anything from duty-free you want me to bring back?"

"No, thanks."

"Didn't you say last time you liked that laptop, whatever the brand was?"

I was patting Lewis's back, easing him to sleep, and didn't look up. "I don't really want it anymore."

The things, and the person—I didn't want any of it anymore.

...

Before the out-of-state assignment, family members going along needed a checkup too.

I took Lewis in for ours, and while we were waiting in line for the results, I saw Janet and Timothy standing in front of the fever clinic.

Timothy was leaning into her. "Such a shame. Now that I've caught a cold, I won't be able to touch you for days."

Janet stroked his face, half-exasperated. "And whose idea was it to take a cold shower right after? Learn your lesson this time. No more of that."

A number was called. Janet's phone happened to ring right then, so she didn't go in with him.

When she hung up and turned around, she found me standing there, quiet.

Our eyes met, and she froze for a second before she came over quickly.

"Adrian, what are you doing here? Is Lewis sick?"

She reached out to touch Lewis's face. I stepped back. My voice was level.

"Company checkup. I brought Lewis along."

"Oh." Her eyes flicked toward the exam room, and she answered a question I hadn't asked. "A client's ill. I came along to see how they're doing."

I didn't ask what client mattered so much that even a doctor's visit required the CEO in person.

"I'm heading home."

I didn't wait for her to answer. I turned and left without looking back.

So I didn't see the complicated look in her eyes behind me.

That evening Janet came home earlier than usual.

I sat in the living room watching TV and ignored her.

She came over carrying a cake box.

"Adrian, didn't you say last time you wanted the pastries from this place? I went out of my way on the drive home to pick them up for you."

I glanced at the logo.

I didn't know the brand.

But last time, following the thread, I'd dug up Timothy's secret social media account and seen him post about it.

Out in the suburbs, a dozen miles from his office.

I smiled.

Play two sides long enough, and sooner or later it comes apart.

Janet saw me smile and thought I was pleased.

"Try some." She held out the box.

I didn't take it. The smile left my face. "Janet, I never said I wanted pastries from this place."

Janet went still. I rarely used her full name.

"Then I must have remembered wrong." A flicker of panic. She bent down to kiss me. "Don't be upset. Whatever you want, I'll go buy it right now."

I turned away. "Janet, let's get divorced."

The color drained from her face, inch by inch.

4: 4

"Just because I bought the wrong thing?"

I couldn't be bothered to invent a reason. I stood up. "It can be."

"If we divorce, where do you think you'll go?" Seeing me heading for the bedroom, she panicked, the words tumbling out. "Who would want a man in his forties with nothing to his name?"

My steps stopped.

The air went quiet.

"That's not what I meant..." Her voice was flustered. "I just can't accept that you want a divorce."

Janet's eyes darted to the fruit knife on the table. She snatched it up and pressed it to her wrist.

"You know how hard it was for me to remarry you. You can't go back on your word."

I looked at her red-rimmed eyes and wanted to tell her that I wasn't the one who'd broken any promises.

Then I decided there was no point.

In the silence, the blade cut into her skin, and dark red blood seeped out.

The same old trick. Once, it might have softened me all over again.

Now I felt only numb.

If a mutual agreement to divorce wasn't going to work, then there was only the courts.

I drew in a deep breath and forced out an easy smile.

"I was joking. I just felt off after seeing you with another man at the hospital today."

"I already told you he's a client." She let out a breath and dropped the knife. "What's gotten into you lately? You're always overthinking."

"Maybe being home with the baby has been getting to me," I said, my voice low, and turned into the guest room.

"Let me and Lewis sleep in here for a while. I want to clear my head."

I didn't push it, and Janet didn't say anything more.

Over the next few days, by unspoken agreement, neither of us brought it up again. We just each stayed busy.

She was busy getting ready for her business trip. I was busy getting ready to leave.

Before her trip, she put a key into my hand.

"Wait for me to get back. There's something I want to tell you."

It was the key to the head of the Sullivan family, passed down for generations. I'd seen it once at a family dinner.

I'd never known her to take it out before, and I had no idea why she was suddenly giving it to me.

But I didn't care anymore.

The notifications on my phone kept coming. Timothy was posting constantly.

The latest one was a sunset photo by the Seine.

In the corner of the frame sat a half-finished cup of coffee, and the rim caught the blurred hem of a long dress.

That white couture dress was the birthday gift I'd given Janet last year.

Timothy's caption read:

【Dusk in Paris lasts a long time, long enough for two people to walk slowly. This trip with you, coming along on your business, I never want it to end.】

Scrolling back, there was plenty more.

One day a selfie in front of the Louvre holding crepes, the next a peace sign under the Eiffel Tower at night.

Now and then, in the photo grids, there he was, tying her shoelaces or holding an umbrella over her.

I screenshotted them one by one and saved them all.

Timothy was living a happy life these days.

No one would ever guess he'd once been a baby abandoned at the head of a bridge.

My parents took him in, and right up until they died they never once mentioned it to him.

I wondered how he'd react when he found out where he really came from.

The day I left for Seattle.

I set a thick file on the coffee table, along with a signed divorce agreement.

Beside them, weighing them down, were the family headship key and our wedding rings.

The note read:

【I'll be assigned out of state for three years or more. Look over the agreement. If you agree, sign it and mail it to my company's legal department. If you don't, we'll wait out two years of separation and divorce through the courts.】

...

I'd barely reached the airport when I saw Janet and Timothy coming out from inside, still some distance off.

Timothy leaned down and held his phone up in front of Janet's face,

and Janet, smiling, wrapped an arm around his waist and pressed a kiss to the side of his face.

The two of them passed right by me.

I said nothing and kept walking.

After security, Lewis suddenly started crying in my arms.

I rocked him gently and patted him, still moving forward, and didn't see Janet stop short in the distance.

Her dazed eyes searched through the crowd.

At security, my phone had buzzed once. A message from Janet.

【I think I just saw you at the airport?】

I didn't reply. I turned and walked toward the gate.

The plane took off.

The night lights out the window flickered like a great fireworks display that had nothing to do with me.

I gave a small wave, and just like that, said goodbye to all the years tangled up with Janet.