“Hey!” Maja exclaimed. “That is the second time that you’ve snapped at me lately. I don’t care what’s going on at work. You can’t talk to me like that.”

He started to brush by her, but she put her hand on his arm. He shook it off, but he stopped and sat down at the kitchen table. He rubbed his eyes, and when he looked up at her, Maja saw that they were bloodshot, with dark circles underneath.

“You don’t look great,” she said more softly. “Maybe you should head back to bed.”

Ted shook his head. “No, I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.” He leaned his head against her arm, and she felt, in the weight of his head, how tired he was. Normally this would have softened her, but she was still feeling shaken by his sudden anger.

She waited for him to say something else, to explain, but he just sat there for a minute and then got up and headed down the hall. She heard the shower start.

Maja waited for a minute, took a deep breath to calm herself, and then followed him into the bathroom. She perched on the toilet seat. It was steamy, and she could only see the outline of his form through the fogged glass.

“Look,” she said. “I know things are really busy at work right now. And I want to give you space for that. But I’m also having a tough time, dealing with the house on my own. I’m trying to take as much stuff off of your plate as I can, but I need to feel like we’re a team here. We are, right?”

For a minute there was just the sound of the water, and then he said: “I’m sorry. I’ve been checked out. I know that it isn’t fair to you. There’ve been some things lately . . . I’m worried about money. I’m worried about the house. I’m not sure I realized how much we’re spending. But I know it’s just temporary, and that you’re doing a lot right now too. I promise I’ll do better.”

Maja wanted to believe him so badly that she was willing to ignore the slightly monotonous tone of his voice, which made it sound as if he was reading lines that he didn’t really mean. He’s tired, she told herself. I’m probably really touchy right now too.

As Maja stood up, she noticed the wrapper from the pregnancy test she’d taken two weeks earlier wedged behind the wastebasket. It had never made it to the trash chute, but Ted hadn’t asked about it anyway.