“That supposed to make me feel better?”
“No.”
“Because it doesn’t.”
“I know.”
“Then why say it?”
“Because she wasn’t planning some new life with me.”
Caleb looked out Marcus’s apartment window.
“I don’t care.”
“You might eventually.”
“No, Isaiah. What I might eventually care about is why a man who shook my hand every other Monday thought sleeping with my wife was acceptable.”
Silence.
Isaiah finally said, “It wasn’t.”
Caleb’s jaw tightened.
“I trusted you in my home.”
“I know.”
“You talked to me.”
“I know.”
“I recommended you to two neighbors.”
“I know.”
“Stop saying you know.”
Isaiah became silent.
Caleb breathed slowly.
“Were you in love with her?”
A long pause.
“I cared about her.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
“No.”
Caleb closed his eyes.
“Did she love you?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s a lie.”
“She never said she did.”
Caleb looked down.
Somehow, that information did matter.
Not enough.
But it mattered.
Isaiah spoke again.
“She was lonely. I liked being needed. That doesn’t excuse either of us.”
Caleb said nothing.
“I’m sorry.”
Caleb ended the call.
He blocked Isaiah’s number.
Then he sat on the couch for almost an hour.
A week after the discovery, Caleb finally agreed to meet Nia.
Not at the house.
At a quiet park near a lake where they had once taken engagement photographs.
Nia arrived first.
She looked exhausted.
Caleb looked different too.
Neither wore a wedding ring.
They sat at opposite ends of a wooden bench.
For nearly a minute, nobody spoke.
Nia broke the silence.
“Thank you for coming.”
Caleb stared at the water.
“I have questions.”
“I’ll answer them.”
“Truthfully?”
“Yes.”
“If I catch one lie, I leave.”
Nia nodded.
Caleb turned toward her.
“Why him?”
Nia swallowed.
“Because he paid attention to me.”
“That's it?”
“No.”
“Then tell me.”
She thought carefully.
“I was angry at you.”
“Why?”
“You were never home.”
“I know that.”
“You’d come home physically, but you weren’t really there.”
Caleb’s expression remained neutral.
“You checked emails during dinner. You took calls in bed. We stopped doing anything together unless it was scheduled weeks ahead.”
Nia’s voice trembled.
“I started feeling like an appointment you kept rescheduling.”
Caleb looked down.
“That part is fair.”
Nia seemed surprised.
“But?”
“But you’re describing why our marriage was struggling.”
Caleb met her eyes.
“You’re still not explaining why you cheated.”
Nia nodded slowly.
“You’re right.”
She looked toward the lake.