Ryan came home at six.
He barely made it through the door before I confronted him.
"You sent Melissa to the school?"
He froze.
"Who told you?"
"That's your first response?"
"I was going to explain."
"When?"
He put his bag down.
"I thought we'd talked about this."
"No. We didn't."
"We discussed Travis."
"You discussed Travis. I told you I trusted him."
Ryan's face hardened.
"I don't."
"So you went behind my back?"
"I was trying to protect Emma."
"By lying to the school?"
"I didn't lie."
"You told Melissa we had agreed to remove Travis."
Ryan said nothing.
"Did we?"
"No."
"Then yes, you lied."
He rubbed his forehead.
"I just don't want him around her."
"Why?"
"Because I don't trust him."
"Again, why?"
He couldn't answer.
That was the part that frightened me.
If he had accused Travis of something specific, I could have investigated it.
If he had told me Travis had behaved inappropriately, I'd have listened.
But there was nothing.
No incident.
No evidence.
No explanation.
Just suspicion.
Then Ryan said something that changed the argument completely.
"Maybe you should ask yourself why you're so determined to defend him."
I stared at him.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing."
"No. Say it."
He looked away.
"I don't know."
"Ryan."
He finally said it.
"Sometimes I feel like you care more about him than you care about me."
I couldn't believe what I was hearing.
"Travis?"
"Yes."
I laughed once.
Not because it was funny.
Because it was absurd.
"You're jealous of Travis?"
Ryan's face reddened.
"I'm not jealous."
"You just said you were."
"I said I felt like—"
"Do you hear yourself?"
He didn't answer.
Then he walked away.
I stood in the kitchen, completely exhausted.
I thought the argument was over.
It wasn't.
That night, I heard Emma crying in her bedroom.
And when I walked in, she asked me a question I will never forget.
"Are you and Daddy getting divorced because of Travis?"
My heart shattered.
I sat beside her.
"No."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
She wiped her eyes.
"Then why is Daddy angry?"
I didn't know how to answer.
Because the truth was that I didn't understand it either.