He averted his eyes, conceding the staring match. “Yeah. Okay. When I started Coffre, I asked him if he wanted to come in as a silent partner. The home equity line of credit that I took out couldn’t cover all the investments in the new place plus Banque’s refresh, so I needed money, and Nate and his friends were all hot to be restauranteurs like De Niro. I guess they thought it would add cachet to their images.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Am I supposed to tell you every business decision that I make? Do you tell me the circumstances of every patient that you see?”

“This is different.”

“Nate invested. So what? It’s not like he was the only one. He brought in some business associates as well, who, I might add, have proven to be nothing but pains in my ass. But I don’t tell you all that nonsense because you don’t need to hear me griping after a long day of work. I know that you get enough of that from your patients. When we’re together, it’s about enjoying each other and our kids. Not rehashing all the shit.”

“That shit is part of our lives, Philip. That’s what you do in a marriage, share the good and bad. It’s a line in the standard vows.”

Philip snorted. “Well maybe it shouldn’t be, Imani. You know what you learn in the marines other than how to shoot a gun or maybe disarm some idiot waving around a pistol?”

Imani glared at her husband, waiting for him to answer his clearly rhetorical question.

“Compartmentalization.” Philip nodded, agreeing with himself. “You learn to leave your childhood in the past because you can’t be thinking about how Daddy hit Mommy when you’ve got to shove a gun in some guy’s face in front of his kid. You learn to channel all the anger and hurt and whatever other crappy emotions you’ve felt and direct it squarely at the enemy.

“And then you know what you learn? You learn to walk away, to leave the battlefield back there so you’re not coming home screaming at your kids or slapping your own wife. You learn to be home when you’re at home and at work when you’re working, and that business is not at home. It has nothing to do with it. The kids have nothing to do with it. You have nothing to do with it.”

Philip’s body language grew increasingly agitated as he delivered his monologue. His arms flailed. His jaw worked back and forth.