Four Days Without My Husband
The morning Tom left for Chicago, he kissed me at the front door, reminded Jake to finish his paperwork, and promised to call every evening.
His car disappeared around the corner.
I stood on the driveway for a moment, watching the empty street.
Then I turned toward the house.
Jake was standing by the staircase.
“Guess it’s just us for a few days,” he said.
“Just us and a mountain of college forms.”
He laughed.
I smiled back, but I made a mental note to keep things strictly ordinary.
That evening, we cooked dinner together.
Jake offered to chop vegetables while I prepared the chicken. We talked about his upcoming classes, his swimming career, and the books he had been reading.
For almost an hour, everything felt perfectly normal.
Then he said something that changed the conversation.
“You know what I like about you?”
I kept my eyes on the cutting board.
