OPENED THE DOOR AFTER A LONG DAY AT WORK – AND FOUND SIX OF MY HUSBAND’S RELATIVES SETTLED IN COMFORTABLY, WAITING FOR DINNER. I SMILED POLITELY, WALKED TO THE BEDROOM AND CLOSED THE DOOR BEHIND ME. I HAD NO INTENTION OF COOKING – I’D ALREADY EATEN ON THE WAY HOME…

“I know. I should have.”

“And instead, you let me come home to find six people in our living room at 6:30 in the evening after a ten-hour shift.”

I picked the book back up.

“I’ve eaten. I’m going to read. You’re welcome to join me.”

“There are guests.”

“There are your guests,” I said.

“I didn’t invite them.”

He stood in the doorway for a moment.

I could feel him there, hovering in that particular way of a man who wants to argue but can’t find the argument.

And then he went back out and closed the door.

And I listened to the muffled sounds of the living room settle back into themselves.

And I read my book.

I want to be clear.

This was not the fight.

This was not the moment when everything broke open.

This was just a woman, very tired, reading a book in her own bedroom.