“No.”
She shook her head.
“I didn’t mean that.”
“Then choose words more carefully.”
She went silent.
Adrian looked toward the back windows.
Malik pushed the mower across the far lawn.
Back and forth.
Straight lines.
Professional.
Adrian suddenly understood why the grass had looked excellent all year.
He hated himself for thinking that.
“Does his wife know?”
Simone frowned.
“He isn’t married.”
“Girlfriend?”
“No.”
“Kids?”
“A son.”
“How old?”
“Five.”
Adrian nodded.
“You know a lot.”
“Yes.”
“And he knows what about me?”
Simone hesitated.
Adrian looked back.
“What did you tell him?”
“That we were unhappy.”
“True.”
“That we were basically separated.”
“False.”
“We sleep in different rooms half the time.”
“When I work late, I fall asleep in the guest room.”
“You have done that for six months.”
“Yes.”
“That is not a separation.”
“I know.”
“Does Malik know that?”
Simone said nothing.
“Did you tell him I knew about you?”
“No.”
“Good.”
At least one lie admitted cleanly.
Simone sat at the far end of the island.
“I was going to tell you.”
“When?”
Her silence answered.
Adrian looked toward the front door.
“This weekend?”
“No.”
“Next week?”
“No.”
“When?”
“I didn’t know.”
“After what?”
She stared.
“After you figured out whether Malik wanted you enough?”
Her eyes flashed.
“That’s cruel.”
“Yes.”
Adrian nodded.
“I’m aware.”
She wiped tears angrily.
“You haven’t wanted me for years.”
“That does not give you permission.”
“I didn’t say it did.”
“You sound like you’re about to.”
“I’m explaining.”
“Fine.”
Adrian leaned back.
“Explain.”
Simone looked toward the floor.
“You stopped coming home.”
“I live here.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Yes.”
He did.
Adrian had started BrightPath Security with two partners nine years earlier.
The company grew from twelve employees to nearly four hundred.
Travel increased.
Emergency calls.
Client breaches at two in the morning.
Board meetings.
Regulators.
Every successful quarter seemed to buy another reason he could not stop working.
Simone had built a career too.
Marketing director at a hospital network.
Then Maya was born.
Then Jordan.
After Jordan developed severe asthma as a toddler, Simone reduced hours.
Eventually she left.
They agreed.
At least Adrian believed they had.
Now he wondered whether “agreed” sometimes meant one person surrendering after both looked at whose salary was larger.
Simone continued:
“You had work.”
“Yes.”
“The kids had school.”
“Yes.”
“Your mother had surgery.”
“Yes.”
“Every room in this house had somebody who needed something from me.”
Adrian listened.
“I disappeared.”
Her voice broke.
He did not interrupt.
“I know how that sounds.”
“No.”
He shook his head.
“It sounds like something we should have talked about.”
“I tried.”
“When?”
She laughed through tears.