I came home because the guilt wouldn\u2019t leave me alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For three days, had been \u201ctoo sick\u201d to work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Weak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Coughing under a blanket on the couch like standing up might break him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Every morning before I left for the office, I set water beside him, checked his medication, and asked if he needed anything. Every morning, he gave me that faint, grateful little smile from the sofa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And every morning, I hated myself for feeling relieved when the door closed behind me and I could finally breathe at work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So that afternoon, I decided to surprise him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soup from the deli.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His favorite ginger ale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A quick kiss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A small reminder that even when I was busy, I still cared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I parked a few houses down so the garage door wouldn\u2019t wake him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The neighborhood looked normal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bare winter trees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kids dragging backpacks down the sidewalk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A dog barking somewhere behind a fence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our house looked peaceful from the outside \u2014 curtains drawn, porch swept, everything quiet and ordinary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The kind of house people call calm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I slipped inside with my shoes in my hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then I froze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nathan\u2019s voice came from the living room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Low.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sharp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Intense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nothing like the weak, fragile voice he had been using with me all week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He wasn\u2019t coughing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He wasn\u2019t struggling to breathe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was pacing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And every word coming out of his mouth made the floor feel less solid beneath me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNo, you\u2019re not listening,\u201d Nathan said. \u201cI already gave you the timeline. She can\u2019t suspect anything before Friday.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My stomach tightened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A woman\u2019s voice came through the speaker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Muffled, but clear enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThen stop stalling. You made promises.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My mouth went dry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m handling it,\u201d Nathan muttered. \u201cShe\u2019s smart. If I push too hard, she\u2019ll start looking into things. And if she starts looking\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The woman cut him off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnd what? You\u2019re going to back out? I\u2019m not waiting forever. I want what you said I was going to have.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The bag of soup almost slipped from my hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I pressed myself against the hallway wall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My heart was pounding so hard I was sure he would hear it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Through the narrow opening, I could see him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Phone to his ear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Standing straight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Healthy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Annoyed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Completely fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDid you transfer the money?\u201d the woman asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nathan stopped pacing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI already transferred it,\u201d he said. \u201cThat part is done. Just let me finish the rest.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My money?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two nights earlier, he had lectured me about how tight things were until my bonus came through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He had looked disappointed in me for even suggesting we might be okay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And now he was calmly telling another woman he had already transferred money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her laugh came through cold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTransferred where? I want proof.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nathan\u2019s voice dropped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou\u2019ll get proof after Friday. I\u2019ll send you the papers. The deed. The account. Everything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The deed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The papers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Next Part \u2192<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I came home because the guilt wouldn\u2019t leave me alone. For three days, had been \u201ctoo sick\u201d to work. Pale. Weak. Coughing under a blanket on the couch like standing up … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":414,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-story"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/risingstoryusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/risingstoryusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/risingstoryusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/risingstoryusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/risingstoryusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=413"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/risingstoryusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":415,"href":"https:\/\/risingstoryusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413\/revisions\/415"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/risingstoryusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/risingstoryusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/risingstoryusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/risingstoryusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}