Nate flashed back to seeing his father coming out of that motel parking lot. He’d been so naïve. What had Matt been doing in Seattle when his jurisdiction was Skamania? He should have known something was wrong.

He shook his head and pulled his mother into his arms, resting his chin on her head. She seemed so small lately, small and brittle.

“I’ll go soon, Ma, I promise.”

EMMA GOT home as Nate was starting dinner.

He’d washed the four naked game hens in cold water and lined them up on a piece of parchment paper and was roasting coriander, cumin, and fennel in a dry pan when she came in.

“Mmm, smells good,” Emma said as she walked into the kitchen. “I saw your mom leaving when I pulled up.”

“She had to get to the nursing home to see Dad.”

Emma kissed his cheek and knelt to scratch Charlie’s ears. “You’re home early.”

“And you’re home late. Must’ve been a busy day at work,” he said.

“Yeah. It was pretty hectic.”

A sick, furious spasm twinged in his belly at her lie. He yanked the mortar and pestle down from the cupboard and dumped in the toasted herbs, bashing the pestle aggressively.

“You okay?”

He didn’t answer for a minute. When he spoke, it was quietly, still not looking at his wife. “Where were you today, really?”

“I was at the—”

“Don’t lie to me, Emma.” He slammed the pestle down, and Emma jumped. “I called you at the clinic and they said you’d called in sick. Where have you been? Are you…” Bile rose in his throat. “Are you having an affair?”

Emma’s mouth dropped open, but almost instantly her face hardened as she retreated behind a cold, perfect veneer. The switch was fast and unnerving.

“I can’t believe you would even ask me that,” she whispered, her face pale. For a second Nate actually doubted himself: the receipt that clearly showed coffee with another person, the midnight texts, the lies about being at work. “You and Josh are my world. How could you think that? Everything I’ve ever done has been for you!”

He tipped the crushed herbs into a bowl of Greek yogurt and spooned the marinade over the game hens.

“Then tell me where you were today.”

Emma’s lips folded into a thin line. He huffed angrily and began chopping crusty bread into small squares to make stuffing.

Emma sighed. “Fine, you want to know where I was?”

He faced her. “Yes!”

“I was with my brother.”

“Ben?” Nate had not been expecting that.

She nodded.

“Why?”

“When you mentioned Josh needing a bone marrow transplant or a kidney, it got me thinking. What if Josh does need any of those things and we can’t help him? I messaged him. We met up for lunch today.”

Nate narrowed his eyes. “You went to lunch?

“Yes.”