“I’m sorry, ma’am. Your husband isn’t here.”
“Oh. Is he in a meeting?”
She hesitated.
“Actually, he’s been on leave since the beginning of the week. He’s not scheduled to return until Monday.”
For a moment, I couldn’t understand what she had said.
“On leave?”
“Yes.”
I forced a smile.
“Oh, right. I must have gotten his schedule confused.”
She offered to pass along a message.
I politely declined.
Then I walked out before the confusion on my face became impossible to hide.
I sat inside my car for several minutes.
His coffee was getting cold beside me.
One week.
For an entire week, my husband had been leaving home at the same time every morning.
He wore his usual office clothes.
Carried his laptop.
Complained about deadlines.
And returned home every evening with stories about his day.
On Tuesday, he had complained that a coworker talked through his entire lunch break.
