3: 3
Once I'd decided to leave, I started clearing out everything I didn't want.
This place had been decorated the way I liked it. Most of what was in it, I had chosen.
Janet had said she wanted me to live somewhere that felt good, somewhere that made me happy the moment I opened my eyes and the moment I came home.
The curtains were the gray-blue I picked.
The couch was the one I finally settled on after trying a dozen others.
The painting on the wall—I had done nothing more than glance at it twice, and she'd had someone hang it in my study the next day.
Now, thinking it over slowly, I saw that this was never my home at all. It was a cage she had built to my exact measurements.
Things I once loved, I couldn't stand to look at anymore.
So I swept the whole lot of it into black trash bags.
When it was all done, I pulled out the suitcase and packed only what mattered.
Janet came in from outside, frowning.
"Why does the place look so empty?"
I didn't look up, kept packing. "Clearing out what I don't want. I'm going to buy some new things."
"As long as you're happy. Let me know if you're short on money." Her eyes landed on the bare desk. "I'm going away on a work trip in a few days. Anything from duty-free you want me to bring back?"
"No, thanks."
"Didn't you say last time you liked that laptop, whatever the brand was?"
I was patting Lewis's back, easing him to sleep, and didn't look up. "I don't really want it anymore."
The things, and the person—I didn't want any of it anymore.
...
Before the out-of-state assignment, family members going along needed a checkup too.
I took Lewis in for ours, and while we were waiting in line for the results, I saw Janet and Timothy standing in front of the fever clinic.
Timothy was leaning into her. "Such a shame. Now that I've caught a cold, I won't be able to touch you for days."
Janet stroked his face, half-exasperated. "And whose idea was it to take a cold shower right after? Learn your lesson this time. No more of that."
A number was called. Janet's phone happened to ring right then, so she didn't go in with him.
When she hung up and turned around, she found me standing there, quiet.
Our eyes met, and she froze for a second before she came over quickly.
"Adrian, what are you doing here? Is Lewis sick?"
She reached out to touch Lewis's face. I stepped back. My voice was level.
"Company checkup. I brought Lewis along."
"Oh." Her eyes flicked toward the exam room, and she answered a question I hadn't asked. "A client's ill. I came along to see how they're doing."
I didn't ask what client mattered so much that even a doctor's visit required the CEO in person.
"I'm heading home."
I didn't wait for her to answer. I turned and left without looking back.
So I didn't see the complicated look in her eyes behind me.
That evening Janet came home earlier than usual.
I sat in the living room watching TV and ignored her.
She came over carrying a cake box.
"Adrian, didn't you say last time you wanted the pastries from this place? I went out of my way on the drive home to pick them up for you."
I glanced at the logo.
I didn't know the brand.
But last time, following the thread, I'd dug up Timothy's secret social media account and seen him post about it.
Out in the suburbs, a dozen miles from his office.
I smiled.
Play two sides long enough, and sooner or later it comes apart.
Janet saw me smile and thought I was pleased.
"Try some." She held out the box.
I didn't take it. The smile left my face. "Janet, I never said I wanted pastries from this place."
Janet went still. I rarely used her full name.
"Then I must have remembered wrong." A flicker of panic. She bent down to kiss me. "Don't be upset. Whatever you want, I'll go buy it right now."
I turned away. "Janet, let's get divorced."
The color drained from her face, inch by inch.
