I ended my engagement after my fiancée asked for a break to see if her ex still meant something to her. She thought I would sit and wait inside the life we had spent four years building — until three days later, her mother called me, and Tessa finally realized I was never her backup plan.

Then she smiled at me through the reflection, soft and practiced, and changed the subject. I did not press her. Partly because I did not want to start a fight over something that might have been nothing, and partly because some part of me already feared it was not nothing at all.

After that, her behavior became harder to ignore. She started using her phone more often. Not just scrolling while watching television, not just checking emails.

She would smile down at the screen in a way I had not seen directed at me in a while, a cheeky little smile she tried to hide whenever I walked into the room. She began making vague excuses for why she could not spend time together. “Sorry, I have a lot of work to catch up on tonight.”

“I promised my mom I’d visit this weekend.”

“I’m exhausted.

Can we do dinner another night?”

None of the excuses were suspicious enough on their own. That was the problem. One loose thread does not look like much until you realize the whole sweater is coming apart.