When I heard my husband telling his friends, between bursts of laughter, that he doubted “this joke of a marriage” would last another year because I “wasn’t even on his level,” something inside me broke—but not in my voice.

“I’m sorry about tonight, but there’s something about Javier you need to know… and it can’t wait.”

I almost turned the phone face down and pretended I hadn’t read it. But Diego’s words stayed lodged in my mind, like someone had left a door half-open in a dark room.

There’s something about Javier you need to know.

I typed with clumsy fingers:

“Tell me.”

The reply came almost instantly.