My husband had a vasectomy, and two months later I found out I was pregnant. He called me unfaithful, left me for another woman… but I still did not know the hardest blow was waiting for me at the ultrasound.

That night, he packed a suitcase.

Not many clothes.

Just enough to let me know another place was already waiting.

“I’m going to Paola,” he said, without shame.

Paola.

His coworker.

The woman who used to text me for recipes.

The woman who once told me, “Lauri, your marriage is so beautiful.”

The woman who had apparently been waiting for a chance to take my place.

The next day, my mother-in-law arrived with two black bags.