Their mother took another slow sip through her straw.
“Your wife enjoys taking care of the house,” Diane said smoothly. “It gives her meaning.”
Ethan did not answer.
But his heartbeat changed.
There are moments when a person’s life does not shatter loudly.
No screaming.
No broken glass.
No sirens.
Just one quiet detail falling into place beside another until suddenly the picture you thought you understood becomes something else entirely.
Ethan looked at the wrappers.
The shoes scattered beside the sofa.
The shopping bags near the stairs.
Then toward the glow spilling from the kitchen.
He walked.
Each step felt heavier than the last.
And then he saw her.
Olivia Carter stood barefoot at the sink beneath the pendant lights, one hand pressed into the small of her back while the other struggled to scrape hardened grease from a baking pan.
