I told him Kate had slept with someone from work. There was a silence during which I heard a truck reversing somewhere near him. Then he asked how I had found out, what she'd admitted, and whether she'd said she wanted to separate. I repeated the sentence about not turning one night into a tragedy. Daniel exhaled through his nose, not quite a laugh, and asked whose names were on the mortgage and the title.
"Both of ours," I said. He asked whether I'd put more money down, and I told him about the forty-three thousand dollars. "Don't move out just because you feel like you should," he said. "Don't sign anything either. I'll send you Sandra's number. She knows property disputes, and she can tell you what's different when divorce is involved."
He paused before hanging up and added, "And Mike, I'm sorry. I know you loved her."
That last sentence nearly broke the composure I'd been relying on. I thanked him, but my voice was not steady. He didn't make me repeat myself or ask whether I was all right. Instead he told me he'd be free on the weekend if I needed him, and then he let me end the call. It was exactly the right amount of kindness for that morning.
At work, I missed a routine dispatch exception that I would normally have noticed before the software flagged it. Graham came over to my desk and asked whether I was distracted. I told him something personal had happened and I'd taken my attention off the schedule for a minute. He looked at me for a moment, then said to go get coffee and he'd handle the exception. I appreciated that he didn't ask me to turn a private disaster into an explanation worthy of a supervisor's approval.
I called Sandra from my car during lunch. She spoke in complete sentences and didn't offer me promises I hadn't requested. After I described the situation, she asked whether we had children, whether either of us owned a business, and how the house had been purchased. She wanted to know if I had withdrawn money from the joint accounts, if Kate had threatened to remove me from the property, and whether there were any safety concerns. When I told her I had downloaded financial records but hadn't moved money, she said that was sensible and asked me not to make unilateral changes before we met.
Our appointment was set for Thursday. Sandra gave me a list of things to bring, including purchase documents, mortgage information, bank statements, recent income records, and any agreements Kate and I had signed. She also told me something that lowered my heart rate by a small but noticeable amount. "You do not have to decide every detail of your future in one phone call," she said. "Right now, we're establishing your position and making sure you understand your options. That's enough for today."