Chapter 2

Michelle was taken aback, as if she hadn't expected me to agree so readily.

We'd gone from school uniforms to a wedding dress together.

At our poorest, we couldn't even afford to rent a basement room.

Wrapped in an old down jacket, we'd huddled under the underpass to get through the night.

Even through days that hard, I never once mentioned leaving.

She probably thought I'd cry, make a scene, beg her to come back.

Her expression eased, and a note of apology crept into her voice.

"You can't put all the blame on Andrew and me for this."

"I'm a normal woman. You let a young, handsome man move into the house and made me take care of him."

"It's only natural for something to happen, isn't it? You should have seen this day coming back then."

The strength drained out of me. From head to toe, there wasn't a spot on me that didn't ache.

"I'm the one who wronged you."

"But Andrew thinks of you as his best friend. Don't hold this against him."

"He's frail, and he takes things to heart. He can't handle any shock."

"From now on, just treat him the way you always have."

I looked up and caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror.

My eyes were bloodshot, dark shadows under them.

For the past three months, I'd traveled all over the country searching for the best prosthetic limb, hardly sleeping a full night.

She used to ache for me. Now her eyes held only him.

"When did it start?"

"On our wedding anniversary, when you said something urgent had come up and you had to travel for work."

"I was miserable, so I had a couple too many drinks, and I mistook him for you."

Watching her eyes dart away, I couldn't help but sneer inside.

Michelle was famous for being able to drink a thousand glasses and never get drunk.

In the business world, she'd put how many seasoned old hands under the table.

Except for the day we got our marriage certificate, I had never once seen her drunk.

"Michelle, do you even believe that yourself?"

Caught out, Michelle flew into a rage.

"Fine, I did it on purpose. So what?"

"Saul, you're so dull. Everything you do is by the book."

"Even in bed, you're stiff as a plank of wood, the same position over and over. Utterly boring."

"Andrew's different. He knows how to sweet-talk me, he knows how to give me emotional support."

"Only when I'm with him do I feel like a woman."

It felt as if my heart were being wrung to pieces.

Back then she'd fallen for me at first sight, saying my serious, upright manner was so charming.

Now these very qualities she'd once cradled in her palms—

they'd all become, in her mouth, unforgivable original sins.

I didn't want to argue anymore. I turned to leave.

Michelle called me back.

"Andrew's been sleeping in the master bedroom lately. If we suddenly change his surroundings, he'll probably have trouble sleeping."

"Saul, from now on you sleep in the guest room."

I thought I'd misheard.

"What did you say? This is my house."

I paid the down payment. I oversaw the renovation for three months.

And now she wanted me to sleep in the guest room?

Michelle frowned, her face full of displeasure.

"Look at the state he's in. He can't take being jostled around."

"You're healthy. What's the harm in making do for a few days?"

I lifted my head and looked around.

The magnolia I loved on the balcony had been swapped out for gaudy peonies.

The plain leather sofa had, at some point, been replaced with a country-style fabric one.

Even the wedding photo of Michelle and me on the wall was nowhere to be seen.

The home I'd arranged with my own hands had, without my noticing, become unrecognizable.

Andrew pulled out a bank card and held it out to me.

"Saul, I'll give you all my money. Will you hand Michelle over to me?"

"Aren't we good friends? Didn't you say that as long as you had it and I wanted it, you'd give it to me?"

I stared hard at the bank card in his hand.