My husband proposed that my friend and I swap husbands for a week — I thought he was joking until I discovered she was actually willing to do it, so I agreed and decided to teach them both a lesson

Then I remembered something.

Three months earlier, Sean had asked me to sign a stack of documents related to our home. He said we were reviewing insurance and preparing for some renovations. I had been busy preparing for a family gathering, and he had assured me that everything was routine.

I remembered signing several pages.

I also remembered asking why the paperwork was so thick.

He had kissed my forehead and said, “Because being a homeowner means signing your life away one document at a time.”

I had laughed.

Now the memory no longer felt funny.

I went to our home office and opened the filing cabinet. I found the insurance documents, renovation estimates, and mortgage statements. Everything appeared ordinary at first.

Then I noticed an envelope from our bank.

It contained a notice about an application for additional borrowing against our home.

The application had not been completed, but the amount requested was $240,000.