“I wasn’t trying to hurt you.”
“Then what were you trying to do?”
She was silent.
I continued.
“You told me to prepare for divorce. You said my husband deserved somebody better. You wanted me frightened. Perhaps you convinced yourself that winning him would prove something about your own worth.”
Her breathing grew uneven.
“But you don’t become more valuable by taking something away from another woman.”
“Easy for you to say. You still have your husband.”
“Yes,” I replied. “Because my husband and I choose each other. Every day.”
She began to cry.
I waited.
Finally, she whispered, “I thought he would eventually change his mind.”
“Why?”
“Because men do.”
I looked toward the living room, where Irvin was sitting with a book open on his lap, occasionally glancing toward the kitchen to see whether I needed anything.
“No,” I said gently. “Some people change their minds. Some people don’t. You decided that your assumptions mattered more than what Irvin actually told you.”
