We shared a checking account with $20 in it. We argued about groceries like they were matters of national security.

Then I caught him cheating on me.

There was another woman.

And another.

That wasn’t just a mistake or a moment of weakness. It was a pattern that was unforgivable.

By the time I’d counted up all the lies and half-truths and convenient omissions, it felt less like betrayal and more like humiliation.

Like I’d been the punchline to a joke everyone else was in on.

She’d always been so good to me, even when Caleb was being difficult and things were hard, she’d been a steady presence.

I thought she deserved to hear it from me, not through some family grapevine or awkward phone call.