He was sinking, melting into quicksand. “Nothing else,” he said.

“Yes.” And I knew that he was right. I wanted Fritz’s hands on me. But more than that, I wanted Amelia back in the house.

Fritz and I looked out the window next to the door. I saw Natalie climb into the back seat of the Toyota Highlander that had pulled into the Straubs’ private driveway. The car door slammed shut. Her friend’s mother waved out the car window. I heard the car accelerating onto the street. Fritz finally looked back at me.

“Do you have access to Amelia’s calendar?” I asked.

In the daytime, the Straubs’ home office looked as if it were completely open to the side deck; one entire wall was made up of sliding doors with glass so clean, you wouldn’t even know it was there. Outside, I saw the snow beginning to melt. The rain had washed much of it away. I could almost make out the lines of the landscaping. A few potted plants, which had been covered with snow up until now, were starting to reveal themselves.

Fritz turned on Amelia’s computer. I sat next to him so I could look over his shoulder. His strong body odor filled the room.

Over the course of an hour, we looked through each and every meeting and call that had taken place that year, starting in January, as well as those that were scheduled to take place in late March and April.

“There was one time,” he said, “maybe five years ago, when I thought Amelia was having an affair. I was gone a lot. And I think she was lonely. I didn’t blame her.…” I heard a layer of darkness in his voice. “But it takes a toll.”

In my mind’s eye, I saw Amelia in bed with a woman, not a man. When I tried to make out the woman’s face, I realized it was mine.

“Recently she seems anxious,” I said.

Fritz continued to scroll through the calendar. “The whole baby thing.”

“I know.” My stomach clenched. He’d brought the subject up himself.

“Yeah, we’ve been looking at adopting,” he said. “Looking at surrogates.”

Amelia’s absence had led to an opening for the surrogate conversation. Here was an opportunity and I couldn’t turn away from it. “Did she find a surrogate?”

“We were … arguing. Amelia thinks a surrogate would confuse Natalie. And she doesn’t want her baby in a stranger’s body.”

“Of course.”

“It’s a decision with fucking zero information, all these donors, surrogates, birth mothers, for Christ’s sake. And you don’t know a goddamn thing about anyone.”

Patience. I needed patience and a level head. “You should hire someone you know to be the surrogate.”

Fritz combed his fingers through his hair, starting from his forehead and going straight back.