“And he said I’d probably be considered to lead it.”
For a second, I couldn’t make sense of the words.
“Lead it temporarily?”
Nathan didn’t answer.
I felt something inside me go cold.
“Permanently?”
“There isn’t even a permanent position yet.”
“But there could be.”
“Yes.”
“And you’ve known that too?”
“He mentioned it when we finalized the assignment.”
Three weeks.
The same three weeks he’d spent coming home, eating dinner with me, asking about my day, going to bed beside me.
Not once had he mentioned that he was considering a future on the other side of the country.
“What were you planning to do?” I asked.
“If they offered it, I mean.”
“I don’t know.”
“Then why ask for six months?”
He didn’t answer.
I stepped closer.
“Why, Nathan?”
Finally, he said, “I wanted to see what it was like there.”
I stared at him.
“What does that even mean?”
“Living there. Working there. Whether I liked it.”
The sentence landed harder than anything Mr. Bennett had said.
“You weren’t testing a job,” I said. “You were testing a life.”
“That’s not fair.”
“Without telling your wife that the test was happening.”
“I was going to tell you.”
“When? After you’d decided you wanted it?”
