By the time I’d worked my way back nine years and forward to a post uploaded that morning, it was past noon, and the coffee had gone cold twice.
The new post showed Rachel and Carol standing in front of a house I didn’t recognize, boxes stacked behind them.
I needed to hear from him.
The caption read: ‘New home, new beginning.’
I zoomed in on the driveway. Half of a silver SUV was visible at the edge of the frame.
I knew that dent above the wheel well. For a year, I’d argued with Greg about getting it fixed.
My phone buzzed on the counter.
“Everything all right?”
Greg: ‘Long day. Going to bed early. Kiss Leo for me💋’
He wasn’t on a business trip. That much I knew.
Everything else, I needed to hear from him.
I stared at the screen for a full minute.
Me:‘Sleep well❤️’
I called my mother, Denise.
“You need me to come with you?”
“Mom. Can Leo stay with you tonight?”
“Of course. Everything all right?”
“I don’t know yet. I’ll tell you when I do.”
She didn’t push.
She never did.
“I need to do this by myself.”
I picked Leo up from school and drove him straight out to the ranch with his overnight bag and his little dinosaur pillow.
He hugged my neck and asked if we could bring the stroller.
“It stays home, buddy. It’ll be waiting when you get back.”
Mom walked me to my car. “You need me to come with you?”
I’d taken it as a compliment then.
“No. I need to do this by myself.”
She held my face in both hands for a second, then let go.
I still didn’t know what I’d find at the end of that drive.
I only knew my husband had lied about where he was.
I could pretend.
For the first hour, I kept the radio off and watched flat farmland slide past the windows. I thought about the first time Greg called me his country girl. We’d been dating four months.
