⸻
"This," she said, thrusting the papers toward my chest. "Six months of full salary. Full benefits continuation. And this — a job offer, Weldon. From Draymond Consulting. You've been sitting on a job offer this entire time."
⸻
I took the papers slowly, working through exactly how she'd gotten her hands on either of them.
⸻
"Where did you get these?" I asked.
⸻
"My father plays golf with someone from your industry," she said. "He mentioned Halbrook's severance package was unusually generous. Then my father asked around a little more and found out you'd been quietly interviewing with Draymond for the past three weeks."
⸻
"I have been interviewing with Draymond," I admitted. "The recruiter reached out about six weeks ago. I had a second interview two weeks before the layoffs were even announced."
⸻
"And you never once mentioned any of this," Delphine said.
⸻
I sat down slowly on the arm of our couch, working through the full shape of what she was actually accusing me of.
⸻
"Delphine," I said, "you left this house twenty minutes after I told you I'd lost my job. You didn't ask a single follow-up question. You didn't ask about severance. You didn't ask whether I had any other prospects lined up. You packed a suitcase and drove to your parents' house before I'd finished my second sentence about the situation."
⸻
"That's not the point," she said.
⸻
"It's exactly the point," I said. "I couldn't tell you about the severance, or Draymond, because you were already gone before I had the chance to say anything past 'I lost my job today.'"
⸻
She stood there for a moment, working through the timeline herself, some of her earlier fury visibly faltering.
⸻
"You could have called me," she said. "Once you knew about the severance. Once the Draymond interview went well."
⸻
"I could have," I said. "I chose not to, honestly, because I wanted to see whether you'd come back for me, or only for whatever financial security you eventually learned I still had. I think we both just got our answer."
⸻
Delphine's face went through several rapid stages, landing somewhere between defensive and genuinely uncertain.
⸻
"That's not fair," she said. "I panicked. Losing a job is scary, Weldon. I reacted badly, but I'm here now."
⸻
"You're here now," I said, "three days later, holding printed proof that I'm not actually in financial trouble. I don't think that's the same thing as coming back because you missed your husband."
