asking you to take him back.”
“Good.”
“I think I finally understand that would be insulting.”
“Thank you.”
“He always thought you were…”
She struggled with the next word.
“Were what?”
“Safe.”
Safe. Not dull, not helpless: dependable. Aaron had counted on finding the same house, the same spouse, the woman who remembered every obligation and appeared when photographs required a wife. People rarely inspect the strength of a bridge while they’re crossing it; they notice only after it fails.
“He was wrong,” I replied.
“Yes.”
“I think he knows
