The days after the rain had a strange, flat quality. Like walking through a house after a funeral. Everything looked the same. Nothing felt the same.
I went to work. I sat at my desk. I answered emails. I nursed my baby in the supply closet during lunch. I came home. I heated leftovers. I put the baby to bed. Jett stayed in the guest room.
And Malayah started giving me orders.
The first one came on a Tuesday. I was reviewing a batch report when she appeared at my desk, arms crossed, head tilted. 'Edith,' she said. 'I need you to refile these vendor contracts. They're out of order.'
I looked at the stack she set on my desk. Twenty contracts. Alphabetized already. I was a textile engineer. I had a degree. I had written formulas that were now in production. But I took the stack and said, 'Okay.'
She smiled. 'Thanks so much.'
I waited until she walked away. Then I opened my notebook and wrote: Tuesday, 9:47 a.m. – Malayah Griffin: refile vendor contracts (already alphabetized). Beneath it, I noted the time I finished: 10:22 a.m.
Wednesday, she needed coffee. Not from the break room. From the café two blocks away. Oat milk, no foam. I walked there in the cold and brought it back. Thursday, she needed a document reprinted because the margins were 'off.' They weren't. I reprinted it anyway. Friday, she needed me to organize the supply closet.
I did it all. I wrote it all down.
Margaret Yuen watched me from her desk across the floor. She never said anything. But I saw the way her eyes followed me when Malayah called my name. I saw the way she looked down fast when I caught her staring. Guilt had a shape. It looked like Margaret's face.
I didn't need her to speak. I just needed her to remember.
At home, Jett kept to his routines. He woke up early, showered, dressed in his pressed shirts and polished shoes. He ate the breakfast I made without looking at me. He came home late. He said he had project deadlines. Operational reviews. Site inspections.
He took his phone calls in the bathroom.
Every night, around nine-thirty, he'd excuse himself. 'Just need to check in with the team,' he'd say. Then he'd lock the bathroom door, turn on the fan, and talk in that low, warm voice I used to think was just for me.
I could hear him through the wall if I stood in the hallway. I didn't need to hear the words. I knew who he was talking to.
One night, after he went into the bathroom, I went into the bedroom. His gym bag sat on the floor by the closet. He took it to work every day. Brought it home every night. Never opened it in front of me.
I knelt down and unzipped it.
Inside: a towel, deodorant, a protein bar. I lifted the towel. Beneath it, tucked into the lining, a wad of crumpled receipts.
I spread them on the carpet. Cartier. Two thousand dollars. A bracelet. Date: October 14th. The same month Jett told me he couldn't help with rent because his mom's treatment costs had gone up.
Another receipt. The Outlook Inn, Whidbey Island. Two nights. Date: November 8th–10th. The same weekend he said he had a work conference in Spokane.
Another. Canlis. Dinner for two. Three hundred and forty dollars. Date: December 2nd. The night I ate canned soup alone because we were 'too tight this month.'
I took out my phone. I photographed each receipt against the beige carpet, the overhead light casting sharp shadows across the paper. I folded them back exactly as I'd found them. I zipped the bag. I stood up.
In the bathroom, Jett laughed softly. 'Yeah,' he said. 'I miss you too.'
I walked to the kitchen. I slid the photos into a sealed envelope. I tucked the envelope inside my old engineering textbook, the one from my senior year, the one with my name on the cover in faded Sharpie. No one ever touched that book but me.
Two days later, I found the bank statements.
Jett kept a locked desk drawer in the guest room. The key was taped behind the bathroom mirror. I'd found it two years ago when I was cleaning. I'd never mentioned it. I'd never used it.
Until now.
I waited until he left for work. I peeled the key from behind the mirror. I unlocked the drawer.
Inside: a stack of bank statements. His personal account. The one he said was 'just for savings.'
I sat on the floor and read them.
Every paycheck. Every month. Deposited in full. Then withdrawn in pieces. Nordstrom. Tiffany & Co. Venmo transfers to 'M. Griffin.' Rent payment to Harbor Steps Apartments—Malayah's building. I knew because I'd seen her Instagram once. She'd posted a photo from her balcony. The Space Needle in the background. The caption: 'New place, new energy.'
Jett had paid her deposit. Jett had paid her rent.
While I stretched my paycheck to cover our groceries. While I paid his mother's medical bills on a payment plan. While I wore the same four shirts to work because I couldn't afford new ones.
I photographed every page. I put the statements back in order. I locked the drawer. I taped the key back behind the mirror.
Then I went to my textbook. I pulled out my pay stubs—every one I'd saved for the last five years. I laid them beside the photos of Jett's statements on the kitchen table.
The portrait was clear. Brutal. Irrefutable.
I slid everything into a folder. I labeled it in my tight handwriting: Financial Records.
That night, Jett came home late. He microwaved leftovers. He ate in front of the TV. He didn't ask about my day. He didn't ask about the baby.
I sat across from him with my notebook open on my lap. I wrote the date at the top of a new page.
Then I wrote: Next step.
