Page 26 of Homewrecker

He looked at me.

“If you’re that miserable, leave.”

“I tried,” he yelled.

“When?”

“More than once.”

“And?”

He stared at me for a second. “The first time I brought up separation, she disappeared for almost a week.”

I folded my arms. “What do you mean disappeared?”

“She wouldn’t answer her phone, no one knew where she was, and she left her car at the house.”

“Where was she?”

“Some cheap resort.” He swallowed. “She spent her days sitting near the lake.”

A cold rush went through my body. “Was she trying to—”

“No.” He answered fast. “At least she said she wasn’t. She told me she just needed somewhere to think.”

He rubbed his jaw. “But she said some shit that scared me.”

“What kind of shit?”

Caleb hesitated. I hated that the hesitation made me lean in emotionally.

“She said everyone leaves her eventually.”

I waited.

“She said that she didn’t know what she had left if I did too.”

My chest tightened.

“She said sometimes she wondered what was even the point of rebuilding a life she didn’t even want anymore.”

I looked away. Damn.

“I asked her if she wanted to hurt herself. She said no.”

“But you didn’t believe her.”

“I didn’t know what to believe.”

His voice cracked on the last word. Maybe it was real. Maybe it wasn’t. But, I didn’t know him well enough to tell the difference.

Six months was enough time to learn someone’s coffee order, their laugh, how they handled stress at work, and how they spoke to employees. Six months was nowhere near enough time to know the truth of someone’s marriage.

“So what?” I asked. “You just stay married forever because you’re scared she might hurt herself?”

“No.”

“Then what?”