I married my school sweethea.rt, but on our first wedding anniversary, I overheard him say, “I’ve been fooling her since school. Tonight I’ll finally do what I planned.”

• The way Aaron took quiet phone calls out in the garage, his voice dropping the second I opened the door.
• The locked drawer in his desk that he said held « old tax stuff. »
• The name « Vanessa » that flashed across his phone one night, which he explained away as a coworker.

« You’re not the jealous type, are you, baby? » my long-term boyfriend asked, smiling.

I wasn’t. I made sure of that.

A quiet list was writing itself.

 

Then, last spring, on a random Tuesday, Aaron got down on one knee in our kitchen.