Ashton Salvatore

My wife was acting strangely.

It wasn't something that particularly worried me. After all, we weren't the kind of couple who sat down to discuss feelings or share secrets before bed. We lived together because that's how things had turned out, and over time we learned to tolerate each other enough to avoid unnecessary conflicts.

But he had been behaving strangely for several days.

She would get distracted in the middle of conversations. She would disappear for hours without explanation. Sometimes I would find her watching me with an uncomfortable intensity, only to look away when I noticed.

It was annoying.

Not because I thought he was hiding something important. He had simply disturbed the peace of our life together. And if there was one thing I valued, it was that we each minded our own business.

That's why, when he did it again that night, I decided to ask.

—What the hell is wrong with you lately?