“I still wrestle with that one. You feel clueless and naïve and stupid. Everyone assumed I’d known, even my own family, when no one was more shocked than I was to find out what he’d been doing.”

“Your family thought you knew about it and didn’t say anything? Your friends thought that?”

“They never came right out and said as much, but I got the ‘how could you not know?’ vibe from a lot of people, including my parents and sister. Carl and I were like a lot of busy parents—we went to work, we took care of Ethan, we tried to squeeze in some family time and occasionally some couple time. Where, in the midst of that busy schedule, did he have time for sex with minors? That’s the part I still can’t reconcile.”

“He must’ve told a lot of lies.”

“Lies that I believed because I had no reason not to.”

“You trusted him. You loved him. Why would you ever think he was capable of something like this if there was never anything to indicate he had such a thing in him?”

“I wouldn’t, I guess. After it all went down, I spent many a sleepless night going over every detail—every text message, every phone call, every night together. He never slipped up. Or if he did, I missed it. I wasn’t the kind of wife who felt the need to look at his text messages when he was in the shower. I had friends who did stuff like that, but I never did.”

“You respected his privacy—and you trusted him. That’s the way it should be.”

“I’ve had a hard time talking about this stuff with my closest friends, but for some reason, it’s easy with you.”

“I’m glad you told me about it, and I’m sorry it happened to you. You deserve way better than you got from him.”

“Yes, I do.”

“How much longer will he be in jail?”

“Another couple of years, but it could be less. Naturally, he’s been an exemplary prisoner, so he’s apt to get out early for good behavior.”

“Oh the irony.”

They reached the end of the beach and turned to head back.

“And then there’re the lawsuits,” she said.

“What lawsuits?”

“The ones filed by the families of the girls he slept with.”

“Are you tied up in that, too?”

“Thankfully, no, but I had to start from scratch financially after we divorced because our assets were frozen and our house was taken by the bank. They even came after my ten-year-old car because we owned it outright. Lucky Carl was in jail when phase two of the nightmare kicked in.”

“Jesus, Hope. I hope someone kicks the shit out of him in jail. That’ll be the least of what he deserves.”