Timing Is Everything
Jessie was due to give birth soon.
I invited Jacob over on the very day she was scheduled to be admitted.
I knew he would hesitate.
I knew he would still come.
He arrived smug, relaxed — as if our marriage had been nothing more than a temporary inconvenience.
We sat at the kitchen table.
Pancakes on the stove.
Small talk hanging in the air like it belonged there.
What he didn’t know was that a hidden nanny cam recorded everything.
Every lean across the table.
Every unnecessary touch on my arm.
Every comfortable smile inside the home he had abandoned.
He was careless.
Because he believed he still had control.
Before he left, I handed him the keychain.
He looked almost sentimental.
“Thanks,” he said casually.
He walked out thinking he had won.
