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“She asked for time.”

“What kind of time?”

“To get herself together.”

He walked towards me. “She knows our marriage isn’t good.”

I stared at him. “But does she know it’s over?”

“She knows we’re not happy.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

“She knows I’ve talked about separating for years.”

“Caleb, does she know you consider your marriage over?”

“She knows where I stand.”

“That is not an answer.”

“It’s complicated.”

“No!! You keep saying that like it turns facts into fog.”

I continued. “Does Ravenna know that you are sitting here right now telling another woman your marriage is over?”

“No.”

I laughed. “Thank you.”

“Blair—”

“No, seriously. Thank you. Because for about thirty seconds there, you almost made this shit sound reasonable.”

His face tightened. “I’m not trying to make anything sound like anything.”

“Yes, you are.”

“I’m telling you the truth.”

“You’re telling me your truth.”

“That’s all I have.”

“No. Your wife has one too.”

I saw something in his eyes. At the time, I mistook it for pain. Maybe it was irritation, guilt, or fear that I had just named the one person missing from the story he was telling me.

“I know she does,” he said.

“Then maybe you should be telling all this to her.”

“I have.”

“All of it?”

He didn’t answer.