"You're Grace's husband?"
"Yes."
He frowned, his expression hard to read—like he didn't quite believe me, but was also trying to work something out.
"Grace took the day off. Said she had a prenatal checkup. Her boyfriend's with her." He spoke slowly, deliberately, as if making sure I caught every word. "If you're going to make up a story, at least make it a good one."
My mind went blank.
"I'm her husband."
"We've been married almost five years."
He stared at me. The suspicion in his eyes shifted to pity, then to something else entirely.
He pulled the folder he was holding closer to his chest and took a step back.
"You got something wrong up here?"
He tapped the side of his head and looked at me the way someone looks at a crazy person.
"Call security!"
I didn't know how I ended up outside.
When the guard grabbed my arm and marched me toward the exit, I didn't even struggle.
I crouched on the curb, buried my face in my knees, and cried until my whole body shook, until there were no tears left to cry.
Monday. The day Grace said her business trip would end.
Seven o'clock in the evening, she walked through the door right on time.
"The apartment," I said. "I want to talk about it."
She paused for a second, then put on that same gentle expression. "What about it? Still thinking about that stalled construction?"
"It's not stalled."
I looked her straight in the eyes.
"I went there today."
Her expression didn't change, but the hand holding the remote froze for just a moment.
"Why would you go there?" She laughed and shook her head, her tone like she was coaxing a child. "Didn't I tell you? That whole area's nothing but a construction site. Going there was a waste of time."
"A construction site?"
I heard my own voice come out quiet. So quiet it didn't sound like mine.
"I saw the building today. Fifteen stories. Fully finished interiors."
She stopped talking.
"I also met the person living in 1502," I said. "He asked me who I was looking for, then shut the door."
The remote slipped from her hand and hit the floor. She didn't pick it up.
The air went still. So still I could hear the refrigerator humming.
"Grace." I said her name. "Tell me right now. Is that building stalled or not."
She opened her mouth, then closed it again.
A few seconds passed. She lowered her head, her voice dropping. "The developer did run into problems at first. Then a new company took over and restarted construction. I wasn't trying to hide it from you, it's just..."
She didn't finish.
"Just what?" I finished for her. "Just that it happened to work out perfectly for you to move another man in?"
Her head snapped up. "It's not what you think!"
"Then what is it?"
I pulled out my phone, scrolled to the surveillance footage from the property management office, and held it in front of her face.
On the screen, she stood at the entrance of the building with that man's arm around her. He leaned down and kissed her.
She glanced at it. The color drained from her face.
"What is this?"
I asked.
She said nothing.
"Last week you said you were on a business trip. Is this a business trip?"
Her eyes dropped. Her throat moved as she swallowed.
"There's one more thing." I put the phone away. "I went to your office the other day."
Her shoulders flinched.
"Your coworkers said you took three days off." I paused. "For a prenatal checkup."
I looked at her and said every word slowly and clearly.
"Grace, you're pregnant."
She lifted her head and stared at me. The look on her face was one I'd never seen before.
Panic. Guilt. And something else.
"Robert," she said my name, her voice thin and hollow.
"Three years." I cut her off. "Three years. Every single month, I paid the mortgage. I lived in this rental. I pinched every penny, telling myself that once the apartment was ready, we'd finally move in together. And you?"
She didn't speak.
"You lived in that apartment with another man for three years."
Somewhere in the middle of saying it, tears started rolling down my face. I didn't know when they'd begun.
"You got pregnant. You let him take you to your prenatal checkup. You let him put his arm around you, he treated you, and you walked through that door together. That was my door, Grace. The door I make mortgage payments on every single month."
She stood up and reached for my hand. "Robert, just listen to me—"
I stepped back.
"Go ahead." I looked at her. "I'm listening."
She went silent again.
After a few seconds, I answered for her. "Were you going to say it wasn't on purpose? That you actually wanted to tell me but didn't know how to bring it up? Or were you going to say that you love me, and he was just a moment of weakness?"
Her lips moved, but no sound came out.
I wiped the tears off my face. My hand was shaking.
"Do you know how my visit ended today?" I said. "Your coworkers called security on me. One of them called me a lunatic and had me dragged out of the building."
I paused.
"Grace, we've been married almost five years."
She never lifted her head.
