virtues once they stop loving the person who possesses them.
Dependable becomes boring.
Careful becomes cowardly.
Quiet becomes weak.
“I want a divorce,” Claire said.
I nodded.
Her eyes widened.
“That’s it?”
“What do you want me to say?”
“I don’t know!”
“You already chose.”
She stared at me.
Maybe she expected me to beg.
That disturbed me more than the affair.
“Have your lawyer send the paperwork,” I said.
I walked upstairs.
Twenty minutes later I came down carrying one duffel bag.
Claire stood in the kitchen.
“You’re actually leaving?”
“You asked me to.”
“This is your house too.”
“I know.”
Her expression hardened.
“Derek says you’ll try to take half.”
I stopped.
And there it was.
Money.
It always arrives eventually.
“The house is marital property,” I said. “We split the equity.”
“You barely care about this place.”
“I care about what I paid into it.”
“My salary—”
