Her grip loosened slightly.
I reached for my wallet and checked that her insurance card was still folded behind my driver’s license from her last strep test.
My phone still showed the changed-flight confirmation.
My suitcase remained beside the front door.
Those ordinary details would later matter because they proved I had not come home expecting a confrontation.
I had come home early by chance.
At that moment, all I cared about was getting Ella out of the house.
Then the garage door began to rise.
Ella moved closer to me before Caroline’s car door even closed.
A moment later, my wife entered through the mudroom with two paper grocery bags hooked over one arm and her phone pressed to her ear.
She stopped when she saw me.
