Not because of her. Never because of her. But because life had settled enough for the things Mark disliked about me to stop being softened by novelty. I was no longer the bright young wife who made his friends laugh and said yes to last-minute road trips. I was tired. Stretched. Sometimes anxious. I forgot to switch the laundry. I cried during insurance phone calls. I worried aloud about money even when he said not to. I wanted to talk about things before they hardened. He wanted silence until they passed. He started using phrases like “you always spiral” and “why does everything have to be a conversation?”
At first I thought it was stress. His company had merged with another, his travel increased, his phone practically lived in his hand, and he came home smelling of airports and irritation. He said he was under pressure. He said he needed peace when he got through the door. I believed him because I loved him and because women are trained to translate neglect into exhaustion on a man’s behalf.
Then Kelly arrived.