After I came home early and found my husband in ou…

“Hello, Josephine. How are you?”

“Hello, Lincoln,” I answered with the same terrifying calm. “I need you here at my house immediately.

There is something you need to see.”

While I waited for Lincoln to arrive, I sat on the edge of the bed—the same bed I had shared with Jackson for eight years—and I let the reality hit me with full force. The signs had been there all along. Jackson working from home more often.

His visits to the gym getting longer and longer. The way he had been putting his phone away lately when I came near. The extra showers he took to “relax” after work.

And Caroline. Sweet Caroline, who always found excuses to come over when Jackson was home, who had suddenly started dressing differently—more flirtatious, especially on the days I was working. She knew details about Jackson’s routine that I had never told her.

Desperate whispers came from the bathroom, along with the sound of them gently knocking on the door. “Josephine, please. This is insanity,” Jackson said.