Nathan was asleep by eleven.
I knew the sound of it. The heavier breath. The arm thrown toward my side of the mattress like he still had a right to the space. I lay still until I was sure, wedding band cold on my finger, body still tender from the sacristy table, Elias’s order sitting in me like a second pulse.
Side gate. I’ll tell you when.
The text had come after dinner, while Nathan was talking about work and I was nodding with his brother’s c*m already a memory between my legs.
Elias: Midnight. He sleeps on his back. Don’t turn on a light.
I took the ring off in the hallway.
It felt worse here than in the car. This was the house. Our photographs. His shoes by the door. The toy still in my drawer like a witness. I opened the side gate in the dark and Father Elias was already there
