After I Left, My Husband Learned the Truth

the divorce papers

if expecting her to hesitate. Most women did.

id none

wn neatly and pushed

ished,"

sk, Victor Ha

ished?" he asked, his voice c

iage, and she could count on one hand the number

he replied. "There's no

"You're leaving

like

almost

ew how long s

t, she pa

The house echoed with silence, a silence she had grown

, looking at the bed where she ha

ed softly, though no o

osed behind her,

mply

her absence t

was clean.

hts le

ootsteps b

me, unease crept

self it was

earn how w

llow Naomi when she le

his fingers tapping lightly against the polished table. Th

carefully, "if the

," Victor i

his jacket, and walked

street musician played a slow, careless tune. Victor felt strangely discon

was

self it was

ld calm down. She would come back on

what wi

apartment on the other si

t lined with trees just beginning to lose their leaves. She stood in th

me in years, the

back against the wal

as no s

exhau

mething fragile an

r slept alone in

replaying Naomi's calm expression in his m

more than any a

me, he buried h

Decisions that

t and the next, a strang

n't she

early the

he window, watching strangers pass below. No one

ne buzz

ge from

ed to

everal seconds, then placed th

d not