Chapter 2

The next morning, I was reading the confirmation for my afternoon appointment when Owen let Paige into the kitchen.

She came to show him the plans for a gathering the following evening. I closed my laptop while he poured her coffee. She took the chair beside him and held out her phone.

"Just a few of us," she said. "You can relax for a change."

Owen scrolled through the messages she was showing him.

"You're not still sharing your location, are you?" she asked.

He glanced at me.

Paige laughed. "You don't need someone watching every move you make."

I remembered Owen setting it up during his treatment. I'd gone to the pharmacy while he slept. He'd woken before I got home, and by the time I reached the car, he'd called twice.

That evening, he'd asked me to share my location.

"I just want to know where you are when I wake up."

After that, he'd find me on the map whenever he woke alone, then call to ask how soon I'd be home. I learned to send a message before he had to ask.

Now he set Paige's phone down and looked across the table at me.

"We can turn that off now, Nora. I don't need you keeping track of me."

"All right."

I removed him from the sharing app and put my phone down. They were both still looking at me.

"Done," I said.

Owen checked his screen. "Just like that?"

He tapped it again, then looked up. "Yours is off too?"

"Yes."

"I only meant..." He glanced at Paige. "Never mind."

He set his phone down, but when I picked up my laptop, his eyes followed me.

Paige pulled up the invitation again and asked him about the guest list. She had to repeat the question before he answered. I took my laptop into the other room.

Hannah had mentioned over coffee that she was looking for a roommate. I called her as soon as I was alone.

"Have you rented out your spare room yet?"

"Not yet. Why?"

"I need somewhere to live."

"What's happened?"

"I'm leaving Owen."

She was quiet for a moment. "Come over. I'm home."

Before I left, I checked the course dates my instructor had sent that morning. The refresher course was at the new campus, close to Hannah's street. I wrote back to ask if we could talk later in the week.

Owen and Paige had gone by then. His message arrived as I was getting into my car.

Having lunch with Paige. The place near the park.

I put my phone away and drove to Hannah's. When I parked outside her house, two more messages were waiting.

We won't be long.

Did you get my message?

I read them, then got out of the car.

Hannah hugged me at the door, then led me down the hall.

The room held a bed and a small desk. I stood in the doorway while she explained the rent and showed me the closet.

"Would you need a bigger desk?"

I looked at the space beneath the window. There was room for my books, and I could spread my notes out without clearing them away for anyone's dinner.

"This one's fine."

My phone rang while we were discussing when I could move in.

"Did you get my messages?" Owen asked.

"Yes."

"We're getting coffee before we head back. I didn't want you wondering where I was."

"All right."

He stayed on the line. Hannah was waiting beside the open closet, holding the spare hangers she'd found for me.

"Is that all you're going to say?" he asked.

"What did you need?"

"Nothing. I just..." He paused. "Where are you?"

"At Hannah's. I'll talk to you when I get home."

"You didn't say you were going out. What are you doing there?"

"I'm in the middle of something. I've got to go, Owen."

I ended the call and asked Hannah if I could move in the next day. We agreed on the rent, and she offered to help bring my things over.

I went from her house to the lawyer's office. When the lawyer asked whether Owen knew I wanted a divorce, I told her I'd be telling him that evening.

I signed the agreement for her to represent me before I left.

Back home, I enrolled in the refresher course. My instructor had replied with a time for our call, and I confirmed it, then put the class dates in my calendar.

Owen found me at the kitchen table when he came home.

"You could've answered my messages," he said. "I told you where I was."

I finished the email I was writing and closed my laptop. He was still standing in the doorway.

"If you're upset about Paige, you can say so."

I looked up at him. He came over and pulled out the chair opposite mine, but kept his hand on the back of it.

"Nora. Just tell me what you want me to do."

"I want a divorce. I've found a place to live. I'm moving out tomorrow."