AFTER THREE MONTHS AWAY, YOU CAME HOME TO FIND YOUR WIFE TWELVE POUNDS LIGHTER AND STRANGERS LIVING IN YOUR HOUSE—THEN YOU SAW YOUR MOTHER HAND YOUR SAFE KEY TO A MAN WHO WAS NEVER FAMILY

Valeria’s eyes drop immediately.

That is answer enough.

The silence between you fills with every missed phone call, every message your mother intercepted, every weekend you spent in Dallas on the project thinking your wife was merely tired or busy or sleeping early because she sounded off in the few texts you got. The guilt hits you so hard it almost feels physical. But guilt is useless unless it turns into action, and tonight you cannot afford useless.

“Come here,” you say.

She hesitates for only a second before stepping into you, and when your hands close around her shoulders, the truth you were afraid to feel becomes undeniable. She is so much lighter than when you left that something inside you recoils. Not just from the weight loss. From what it means. Someone reduced her inside your own house while eating at your table.