“Where are the kids?” she asked.

“Out.” He pushed back his chair.

“You can keep working, I—”

“I sent them away so we could talk.”

Lina took a few steps backwards into the foyer. “It’s okay. You were right last night—it’s your business to handle. I shouldn’t have said anything.” She began to walk towards the staircase, intending to go up to their room, but he was behind her, taking her arm and slowly turning her to face him.

“Lina, if there were a way I could avoid having this conversation with you, I would.” His eyes were full of sadness.

Her heart began to pound, all of the relief she felt at Diane’s reassurances gone. She shook her head, her eyes filling with tears. “Phil, I know you had an affair,” she said, her voice breaking. She wanted him to deny it, to shake his head and tell her it wasn’t true, to validate the little ounce of doubt she had kept with her and cherished over the past month. But of course he didn’t, because it was true. A small part of her died at the realization.

“I don’t want to have this conversation standing in the hallway.”

“Why not?” Lina whispered, meeting his eyes. “Is there a better place to break my heart?”

“This is going to get a lot worse. We need to be sitting.” He led her towards the front of the house and then hesitated. “Is the kitchen okay?”

“Yes,” she answered, barely recognizing her own voice.

Lina watched him, her beautiful husband, sitting with his legs apart, his elbows on his knees, staring down at his hands, seemingly struggling with how to begin.

“Are you in love with her?” she thought to ask.

Phil’s head snapped up. “No, God no!”

She felt her body exhale. “So you aren’t leaving me?”

He reached out and took one of her hands, his fingers sliding over her palm, his eyes meeting hers. “I will never leave you of my own volition.”

“Then I don’t understand.”

“Let me just—let me get through this.” He squeezed her hand. “Okay?” When she nodded, he took a deep breath. “This is hard.” He shook his head and glanced down at their clasped hands before raising his eyes back to hers. “About five months ago, when I was in New York, I uh, I started sleeping with one of the associates at the firm.”

“Kim.” Her voice was flat, defeated.

“Yes—”

Lina pulled her hand from his and crossed her arms over her chest. He’d had sex with another woman. Her Phil had taken off his clothes and made love to another woman. It was no longer just a suspicion she could rationalize away. It was a fact. “Is she beautiful?”

“You’re the only woman I find beautiful.”

“Oh, right, I’m sure you were picturing my face when you were fucking her.” She wiped at the tears falling from her eyes.

“Baby, I’m—”

“Don’t call me that. Don’t you dare call me that. You fucked another woman, Phil. You have lost your right to call me that.”