My marketing business took off five years ago, and suddenly, I was earning more than Peter ever had at his sales job. I knew it bruised his ego when I covered the mortgage or paid for family trips. I could see it in the slump of his shoulders or the distant look he’d get when bills piled up“You don’t have to feel bad about it,” I’d reassure him whenever I saw that defeated expression. “We’re a team. What’s mine is yours.”He’d smile, but behind that smile I could sense resentment building. Still, I believed our love and our kids would be enough.
I wasn’t trying to listen in that Tuesday afternoon.
I’d come downstairs to grab some files from my office when I heard Peter talking on the phone in the kitchen. His tone was that relaxed, bragging way he always spoke with his best friend, Mike.“Man, I don’t even feel anything for her anymore,” he said, and I froze on the staircase. “If it were up to me, I’d have left her a long time ago and started living with someone younger. But I just can’t afford child support, you know what I mean?”My hands trembled.He kept talking, laughing like he’d cracked the greatest joke ever told.“Three kids, dude. You know how much that would cost me every month? Plus, she makes bank with that business of hers. I’d be broke and alone. This way, I get to have my cake and eat it too, if you catch my drift.”
