Chapter 2

2.

Three months ago, Sam's old friend, Chloe Vance, became an assistant professor in his department. From that day on, everything changed.

The serious, reserved man I married started joking and laughing with her.

The academic who lived for his research took a week off just to take her stargazing in Vermont because she pouted.

The careless husband who never noticed me suddenly worried about her being cold, buying her the latest cashmere scarf.

The first time, I tried to talk to him directly.

I waited on the sofa for him to come home. When he walked in, he smelled of a perfume that wasn't mine.

"Sam, can we talk?"

He loosened his tie. "About what?"

"About Chloe," I said, my voice shaking slightly. "You spend more time with her than with me. You buy her gifts, you take her on trips… Sam, I'm your wife. It makes me uncomfortable."

He looked at me like I was talking about the weather. "You're overthinking it, Evelyn. Chloe doesn't have any family in Boston. She's… she needs help. I'm just looking out for her. It's my responsibility."

"What responsibility? She's a grown woman, not your daughter."

"You don't understand," he said, his voice laced with annoyance. "I don't want to fight about something so stupid. Just drop it."

Just drop it. That’s how he ended every difficult conversation.

The second time was on my birthday.

I never wear makeup, but that day I did. I even wore the dress he’d bought me. I worked up all my courage and said, "Sam, it's my birthday. I’m craving a cake from Mike's Pastry. Can you go with me to get one?"

He didn't even look up from his laptop. "Evelyn, you're not a kid anymore. What's the big deal about a birthday?"

Just two weeks earlier, he had thrown Chloe a party with a three-tiered strawberry cake and flown her to Disney World in Orlando.

When I confronted him, he looked at me with wide, innocent eyes. "Chloe's young, and she's all alone in Boston. It's only right that I take care of her."

Chloe’s parents were just out of state. I was the one who was truly alone, an orphan with no one in the world but him. He used to be my only family.

I made one last attempt to save my marriage on a rainy evening. I found an old photo in his desk drawer. There were three people in it: Sam, Chloe, and a man I'd never seen before. The stranger had his arm around Chloe, smiling brightly. On the back, someone had written: "Liam, Chloe & Sam, 2019."

Liam. I remembered the name. Sam mentioned him once, said he was his best friend from college, but he never wanted to talk about it.

I put the photo back, a confusing question forming in my mind.

That night, I asked him one last time. "Sam, why are you doing this to me? Can you please just give me a real explanation?"

He was silent for a long time before he finally said, "Evelyn, I haven't done anything wrong. Stop being so dramatic."

That was the final straw.

It wasn't disappointment anymore. It was despair. I finally understood that in this relationship, my voice would never be heard.

After that day, I never fought with him again, no matter what he did.

Because I had decided I didn't want him anymore.