My hands didn’t shake. That scared me. I set Lily gently into her bassinet, smoothing her blanket like I wasn’t stepping out of my life. Then I sat down, opened the envelope, and scanned the pages with a strange, icy focus.
Madison leaned in close enough that I could smell her perfume. “This will be better for everyone,” she murmured.
I picked up the pen. Ethan exhaled like he’d been holding his breath.
I signed the papers with a cold smile that startled even me. Then I looked up at them—at my husband and the woman standing in my doorway like she’d already won—and whispered, “Congratulations.”
Ethan blinked. “That’s it?”
I stood, wiped my palms on my sweatpants, and walked to the hallway closet. I pulled out the small metal lockbox my dad had insisted I keep “just in case.” Ethan’s eyes narrowed.
“What’s that?” he asked.
I turned back, lockbox in my hand, and said, “It’s the part you forgot existed.”
And Madison’s smile finally faltered.
Ethan didn’t follow me into the bedroom. He didn’t have to. In his head, the story was over: he’d announced a divorce, I’d signed, and now he got to slide into a clean new life with a woman who wore heels in my living room like the floor belonged to her.
