I locked my wife in the pantry under the stairs

and leaves with her sister.

That is all I get.

It is more than I deserve.

My father moves into a small assisted-living apartment near the clinic. He refuses to live with me, though I offer.

“You have a wife to repair what you can with,” he says. “And a self to rebuild before you stand near anyone fragile.”

He says it without cruelty.

That makes it harder.continue reading …