“I want fresh testing now.”
Bruce glanced at me.
I met his eyes. “Not because I owe you proof. Because I am done living inside assumptions.”
He nodded once. “Okay.”
He did not pretend to misunderstand.
The next few days were awful. We moved around each other carefully. He made me tea. I said thank you. At night, he lay beside me without touching me.
On the second night, Bruce stopped outside the bedroom and said, “I hate that I made you feel accused.”
I looked up at him. “Did you?”
He did not pretend to misunderstand.
“For one second,” he said. “Then I hated myself for it.”
When the results came in, we sat in the same office and listened to the doctor explain them.
I nodded slowly.
“That is the difference now,” I said. “You say the ugly thing before it becomes another secret.”
When the results came in, we sat in the same office and listened to the doctor explain them.
