Yes

Nothing else happens in the morning.

They eat. They leave. Work is work. Lana does not text him about the morning. Adam does not text her about the guilt. In the evening, she is reaching for a pan when he comes in and says they should order pizza.

They eat it on the couch, box on the table, talking about work the way friends talk about work. A meeting that ran long. A coworker who will not answer email. Nothing about Kyler. Nothing about Mia’s video. Nothing about his cock in her mouth while she told him he was allowed to need things. It is easy. It is almost normal.

When the box is empty, Adam stacks the plates and does not take them anywhere yet.

“Thank you,” he says. “For this morning.”

Lana smiles. “I did exactly what a wife would do.”

He smiles back. The quiet from the kitchen is smaller now. He looks at her for a moment, the pretend wife, the ex, the person who knelt on the tile and talked him through it.

“Then I’m going to do something a husband should do,” he says.