Page 79 of Her Ex-Husband's Brother

“She’s clean.”

“She’s not my wife.”

Kathy’s nostrils flare. “Your wife is gone.”

The words land like a slap.

For a moment, Jake doesn’t move.

Outside, someone laughs too loudly. A kid yells and is immediately shushed. The party goes on without him, which feels like its own insult.

“My wife,” he says slowly, “is having a crisis.”

“She’s making a fool of you.”

“She is not in her right mind.”

“She’s spreading her legs for your brother.”

The beer bottle hits the counter hard enough that foam jumps up the neck.

Kathy freezes.

Good.

He likes her better afraid of him. Not much. Just enough.

“Never say that again,” he says, glaring her down. “Don’t forget, mother. I know every one ofyoursins, too”

“I have done everything right,” Jake continues. “I bought the house. I got the promotion. I stood by her through the baby stuff and I didn’t blame her or make her feel worse than she already did. Do you know how many men would have handled that differently?”

Kathy softens instantly. “I know, baby.”

“I was patient.”

“You were.”

“I was good to her.”

“You were too good.”

He breathes through his nose, letting that settle.

Too good. Yes. That’s right.

He was patient about the baby thing. Heroically patient, if anyone asked him. He sat beside her at appointments, held her while she cried, and even told her it wasn’t her fault.

And after all that grace, after all those years of not saying the thing he could have by all rights said, she had looked him in the face and told him she wanted to leave.

Like she was the injured party.

Like freedom was something she was owed instead of something he had already given her every single day he didn’t punish her for failing him.

“She owes me better than this,” he says.

Kathy’s eyes gleam. There. This is the version of him she knows how to comfort.

“Yes, she does.”