There are certain moments in a marriage when the ground doesn’t crack beneath you, but you swear it shifts. Quietly. Just enough for you to notice.
It was a Tuesday. Ordinary in every way possible. Milan had soccer practice, Madison wouldn’t eat her sandwich unless I cut it into a heart, and I still had two deadlines by 15:30.
A smiling little boy wearing a soccer shirt | Source: Midjourney
A smiling little boy wearing a soccer shirt | Source: Midjourney
I was wired on cold coffee and the sound of the laundry tumbling behind me when I asked Adam to come pick me up from my mom’s. Our internet had been down for a few days and I had no choice but to work from my mom’s while she kept Madison entertained with finger painting.
We’d bought the car six months earlier. It was a practical little sedan that smelled like new plastic and possibility. I used it for groceries, school runs, trips to the paediatrician and sometimes for a sneaky drive to a beautiful cliffside, just to breathe.
Adam used it for work, because apparently being an accountant meant emergency meetings and missed trains.
A car parked in a driveway | Source: Midjourney
A car parked in a driveway | Source: Midjourney
When he pulled into my mom’s driveway, I waved from the porch and turned with the box in my hands.
It was a big one. My mom’s latest batch of pickles, chutneys, jams, and two loaves of freshly baked bread… all the things that taste like my childhood.
“Can you pop the trunk?” I asked, adjusting the box against my hip.
Adam didn’t move.
Freshly baked bread on a counter | Source: Midjourney
Freshly baked bread on a counter | Source: Midjourney
“Just toss it in the back seat,” he said too quickly. “Madison is tiny, she’ll fit with it.”
“Why?” I blinked slowly. “The trunk’s empty, isn’t it?”
“It is,” he said, scratching the back of his neck. “But it’s really… dirty, Celia. Cement or something, you know? I meant to clean it out but we’ve been so busy with that audit lately. You’ve seen how long my days have become.”
“Cement?” I asked, confusion settling between my eyebrows. “From your office job?”
A man sitting in a car | Source: Midjourney
A man sitting in a car | Source: Midjourney
He looked up at me with that easy smile, the one that had charmed me 11 years ago in a bookstore and shrugged.
“It’s a long story, Lia. I’ll explain later. Grab Maddie and let’s go home, I’m starving. I’m thinking of lasagne for dinner.”
Only, he didn’t explain a damn thing.
The interior of a bookstore | Source: Midjourney
The interior of a bookstore | Source: Midjourney
Still, I didn’t think about it too much. Life didn’t give me room to, not with Milan losing a tooth at soccer and Madison refusing to nap.
But by Saturday, I needed the car. I had a long list of errands to check off before 12:00. The weekly groceries, a pharmacy run for all of our daily supplements, drop-off at the dry cleaner and I was eager to get my hands on a box of fresh croissants.
It was just going to be a day of usual haunts. I asked Adam if he could watch the kids for an hour.
A box of mini-croissants | Source: Midjourney
A box of mini-croissants | Source: Midjourney
“I’ll take the car,” I said casually, already slipping on my shoes. “You can watch a movie with the kids or something. There’s ice cream in the freezer.”
“Actually, Celia,” he paused. “I was going to head out, too.”
“Where?”
He hesitated. He looked at his half-drunk cup of coffee and his leftover toast. That was when the ground shifted.
A plate of food on a table | Source: Midjourney
A plate of food on a table | Source: Midjourney
“You’re not even dressed,” I said slowly. “So, what’s going on?”
“Yeah…” he said, dragging the word to give himself time to think. “I just need to grab something from… a friend.”
“What’s going on with the car, Adam? What’s really in the trunk?” I crossed my arms.
“What do you mean?” he asked stupidly.
“You said it was dirty last week. I offered to clean it when my work day was over. You nearly gave yourself a stroke when I offered.”
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