“Did you ask?”
Jamie shook his head.
“She saw me looking and closed the door.”
The room suddenly felt smaller.
I glanced at Sophie.
Then at the hallway.
“Jamie, are you sure?”
His face tightened.
“Daniel, I know what I saw.”
Before I could ask another question, Claire returned.
She was carrying two coffees.
Her eyes moved from my face to Jamie’s.
“What are you two talking about?”
Neither of us answered.
And that was the moment I noticed something else.
Claire was no longer wearing her wedding ring.
## THE OBJECT THAT DIDN’T BELONG
I didn’t accuse her.
Not then.
Partly because I couldn’t believe what Jamie had suggested.
Partly because I was afraid to.
Claire had been my wife for six years.
We had met when I was twenty-seven, when I was working twelve-hour shifts at an architectural firm and barely had time to breathe.
