We resisted.
If we could not verify it, it stayed unknown.
At ten fifteen, my phone rang.
Meredith.
I let it ring.
Then a text.
Heading home. We need to talk when I get there.
Five seconds later, Elowen’s phone vibrated.
She looked down.
“Callum.”
“What did he say?”
“Coming home. We need to talk.”
We both laughed.
Not because anything was funny.
Because even now, they were synchronized.
Elowen put her phone away.
“I should go.”
I nodded.
“What are you going to do?”
“Ask him one question.”
“What?”
“How long?”
I looked at her.
“And if he lies?”
She touched the folder.
“Then I have my answer.”
I drove home.
Meredith’s car was not in the driveway yet.
Of course not.
She had left with Callum.
I made coffee.
Then sat at the kitchen table.
I placed my wedding ring beside the cup.
Not dramatically.
I simply didn’t want it on my hand.
At 11:07, Callum’s Mercedes pulled up.
Meredith got out alone.
He did not walk her to the door.
She carried the overnight bag.
Her burgundy coat was buttoned tightly.
She watched his car disappear.
Then came inside.
When she saw me at the table, she smiled nervously.
“Hi.”
“Hi.”
She noticed the ring.
Her smile faded.
“What’s that?”
“You know.”
She placed the bag near the stairs.
“Nathan, before you decide anything, can we talk about last night?”
“Absolutely.”
Relief crossed her face.
She sat opposite me.
“I need you to know nothing happened that changes how I feel about you.”
I almost admired the wording.
“What happened?”
Meredith hesitated.
“We talked.”
“All night?”
“Mostly.”
“Did you have sex?”
Her eyes flickered.
“Nathan.”
“Yes or no.”
She looked down.
“Yes.”
There was the first truth.
“Once?”
Her head lifted.
“What difference does that make?”
“Probably none.”
“Then why ask?”
“Because I’m curious whether honesty has limits today.”
She stared at me.
“This is exactly what I was afraid of.”
“What?”
“That you’d punish me after saying I could go.”
I laughed.
“I didn’t give permission.”
“You said go.”
“I stopped trying to control a choice you already made.”
“That isn’t the same thing.”
She folded her arms.
“You can’t tell me to go and then use it against me.”
“I’m not using last night against you.”
She looked confused.
I reached into the folder beside my chair.
Pulled out the lake photograph.
Placed it between us.
Meredith stopped breathing.
For several seconds, she did not touch it.
Then:
“Where did you get this?”
“Does that matter?”
“Nathan.”
“How long?”