I cried in my husband’s arms at the airport as he boarded what he claimed was a two-year work assignment in Zurich.

I looked around my study, at the framed photograph on the bookshelf from our trip to Santa Fe. Lucas’s arm around my shoulders. My head turned toward him, laughing at something he had said.

Quietly dividing things.

“He told her I was emotionally fragile, didn’t he?”

Grace’s silence was enough.

I smiled without humor.

“He always did like making women feel like someone needed protecting.”

“I’m not defending her,” Grace said. “I’m just telling you what she believed.”

“And now?”

“Now I don’t know what she believes. She won’t speak to me.”

“Why?”

“Because I told her Lucas was lying.”

I closed the laptop without completing the transfer.

The sound seemed louder than it should have been.

Grace noticed.

“You didn’t move the money?”

“No.”

“Good.”

“Don’t mistake that for trust.”

“I don’t.”

I stood and walked toward the hallway.

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