The first punch landed clean enough to make my wife smile

him to expose himself.

There is a difference.

Three days earlier, I had been sitting in my kitchen when everything started.

At least, that was when I thought it started.

The voice note playing from Claire’s phone had filled the room.

“Babe, you left your sports bra in my locker. Tell your sad sack husband you’re working late tomorrow. We need to go over your ground game.”

Then came the chuckle.

Wet.

Private.

Cruel.

I had stared at Claire’s phone beside the fruit bowl.

Fourteen years.

That was a long time to know someone.

Long enough to recognize their footsteps in the hallway.

Their breathing in sleep.

The expression they made before lying.

Claire came downstairs wearing a white robe.

She stopped when she saw the phone in my hand.

For perhaps two seconds, neither of us spoke.

I expected denial.

Instead she sighed.

That hurt more.

Not panic.

Not