The boys noticed the tension first. Ethan asked why Dad was “grumpy all the time.” Leo grew clingy, demanding bedtime stories Daniel read without hearing a word. Their puzzled eyes only deepened his guilt, but he buried it. The truth had to come first. He needed to know.
One evening, Claire mentioned she’d be late home from work. Daniel nodded, pretending not to care, but once she left he scrolled through her recent social media posts. Smiles with friends, captions about long days, each seemed staged. He stared until his eyes blurred, convinced the performance hid something rotten.