The woman I had married? The wife I had loved and known for five years? Or a stranger I never truly knew?
I began investigating her.
Averie was the same as always: going to work, coming home, eating, bathing, watching shows, and sleeping.
Nothing out of the ordinary.
She was even more gentle than before.
At night, she would lean on my shoulder while watching shows. In the morning, she would kiss me goodbye.
But I couldn’t smile anymore. I felt like an invisible man, locked outside the door of our marriage.
She was inside, doing God knows what, and I had no idea. I didn’t dare imagine.
I kept reviewing her schedule for the past month.
Twice, she had said she was going back to her parents’ place. She hadn’t done that often, maybe five or six times a year.
And every time, she would have me drive her there.
But those two times, she went alone and never said a word more. I pulled up my phone calendar and circled the dates in red.
I hired a private investigator. I told no one.
All I said was, “Look into a woman. I want everything, especially what happened on those two days.”
The detective accepted quickly and promised results in three days.