Chapter 11 - The marriage before Nora
Claire and I had not been happy for six months.
Not miserable.
Functioning.
Jobs.
School.
Soccer.
Sex occasionally.
Arguments about money and my travel.
Then Claire began acting strange whenever I mentioned the past.
One night a movie had a surprise-paternity plot.
She got up and left the room.
I joked:
“Too trashy?”
She snapped:
“Not everything is funny.”
I thought work stress.
Another time Ethan asked:
“Could I have a sister somewhere?”
Because a classmate discovered a half-brother.
Claire dropped a glass.
It did not break.
She said:
“Why would you ask that?”
Ethan shrugged.
I laughed.
“Not that I know of.”
Claire left the kitchen.
I remembered that after Nora.
Memory becomes an aggressive editor once you know the ending.
Still, I had to resist pretending every odd moment was proof.
Maybe some were unrelated.
The concrete facts were enough.
Claire had known there was a possibility for almost five years.
May you like
How much had that secret shaped our marriage?
Impossible to measure.
