Chapter 1
Three in the morning. The widow next door was banging on my door, saying her son had a fever and she needed to borrow some medicine.
My husband, Thomas, a doctor who’d just fallen asleep after a grueling late shift, was up and out the door in
an instant.
He didn’t come back for half an hour.
“It’s not easy for Jenna, raising a kid on her own,” he said, shrugging off his coat. “The fever’s finally broken, thank God.”
When I didn’t respond, he sighed, a familiar wave of weariness washing over his face.
‘I know you don’t like me getting close to other women, Claire, but this was a life-or-death situation. It’s my duty.”
Normally, I would have nodded and said I understood. But not tonight. Instead, I spoke with a calm that felt foreign even to me.
‘I want a divorce.”
Thomas’s hands froze, the motion of taking off his jacket halting mid-air. His face was a mask of exhaustion But just as quickly, he smoothed his features, stepping forward to pull me into his arms.
What, are you jealous? C’mon, all my energy goes into my work and into you. There’s no room for anyone
else.”
He held me, his voice a low, placating rumble. “You can be mad at me, but don’t say things that hurt, okay?
You know better than that.”
t was a gentle scolding, the kind you’d give a petulant child. There was a time I found that tone intoxicating-
y charming.
Tonight, it just made my skin crawl. I pushed him away, a flicker of disgust in my heart.
‘I’m not being petulant.”
“I’m serious about the divorce.”
His eyes locked onto mine, a response forming on his lips before dissolving into another sigh. The living room fell silent, the only sound the soft cadence of our breathing.
Finally, he broke the stillness, taking my hand and rubbing the back of it with his thumb.
“Claire, I know I’ve been distant lately, but work has been insane. And your birthday… I didn’t mean to forget.
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Your gift is already on its way.”
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He leaned in, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. “Once this crazy stretch is over, I’ll take you on that trip we talked about, just the two of us. Get away from it all. Okay? You know I was on my feet for almo- st twenty hours today, right? Be good. No more of this…”
His eyes were shot with red, a testament to his fatigue-and, I supposed, to the wound I had just inflicted. He was making perfect sense. By all accounts, pushing this further would make me seem unreasonable, ungrateful even.
But I pulled my hand away, my voice laced with a scorn that surprised us both.
“Thomas, I said I want a divorce. Are you deaf, or just stupid?”
My voice was sharp, cutting through the quiet room. “Monday is in two days. I expect you to take the day off. We’ll meet at the courthouse. You will…”
Before I could finish, a dark flush crept up his neck. With a frustrated roar, he threw his coat to the floor. I’ knocked over a crystal glass on the entryway table, which shattered on the hardwood.
Shattered. Just like us.
The crash seemed to sober him. The anger in his eyes was replaced by a deep, aching disappointment, bu he held on to his patience by a thread.
“Claire, this isn’t you. Even if you were serious about this, there has to be a reason, right?”
His voice cracked. “It can’t be because I gave Jenna our Tylenol, can it? A high fever in a kid can cause seiz ures. It can be fatal. I’m a doctor. Was I supposed to just let him die?”
His words struck a nerve. A tremor ran through me, and my hands clenched into tight fists.
‘Yes, that’s exactly why!” I spat, the hatred in my eyes so raw it felt like I was staring at a crime scene. “A man and a woman, alone in a room in the middle of the night. You disgust me.”
The fight, now raw and loud, had woken the neighbors.
And among them was Jenna.
Her eyes were red-rimmed and she looked utterly lost. Before I could process it, she dropped to her knees in front of me.
“Claire, please… did I cause a misunderstanding by asking for medicine so late?” she pleaded, her voice tre- mbling. “There’s nothing going on between me and Thomas. It was just… it was too late to get a cab, and I knew Thomas was a doctor, so I thought you might have something…”
Two other neighbors emerged from their apartments, drawn by the drama. Their whispers quickly turned into open condemnation.
“Look at her. So pretty on the outside, but her heart is pure poison.”
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“He’s a doctor, for God’s sake! He was saving a life. What kind of person gets jealous over that?”
“Dr. Hayes must have done something terrible in a past life to end up with a wife like you!”
The chorus of accusations washed over me. I lowered my head, a shield against their glares, but inside, a cold, bitter laugh was echoing.
