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“I told them I needed a break.”
“You planned this.”
“You left your recovering wife with three newborns.”
“I deserve time away.”
“And I deserved a partner.”
Marcus spoke behind him.
“You told her she wanted you to leave?”
Ethan moved away from the phone.
“Stay out of this.”
“You said she had help.”
“I deserved a partner.”
“This is between me and my wife.”
Ben added, “Then maybe you should’ve stayed home with your wife.”
Ethan lowered his voice.
“You don’t know what my house is like.”
Marcus replied, “That’s the point. You don’t either.”
I heard a suitcase zip.
“This is between me and my wife.”
Then Ethan asked, “Why are you packing?”
“I’m going home, Ethan!”
“What?”
“My wife struggled when I went back to work, and we had one baby. You left Kyra with three.”
Ben said, “I’m leaving too.”
“You’re siding with her without hearing me.”
“We heard you,” Marcus said. “That was enough.”
“I’m going home, Ethan!”
A door closed.
Ethan came back to the phone.
“They walked out on me.”
Tessa cried from her bassinet.
“Now you’ve got the solo trip you wanted.”
“I’ll stay the full two weeks just to spite you.”
“That’s your choice, Ethan. I can’t stop you.”
“They walked out on me.”
“You can’t stop me from coming home.”
“I’m not trying to.”
I lifted Tessa.
“But when you come home, you won’t move back into the guest room and live like you’re single.”
“It’s my house too.”
“Then come home and live like it.”
“Kyra, listen to me.”
“I’m not trying to.”
“Tara is changed. Timothy has eaten. Tessa needs me now. I don’t have time for your tantrum.”
I ended the call.
My hand shook after I put the phone down.
I didn’t feel brave.
I felt terrified.
But terror wasn’t the same as helplessness.
I didn’t feel brave.
Two days later, the front door opened.
Ethan stepped inside with a duffel bag.
He stopped when he saw Ben placing food in our fridge.
“What are you doing here?”
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