“You’re agreeing to this?”
Sebastian looked at her as though he had forgotten she was there.
Natalie continued, more sharply now.
“Sebastian, think.
The second you start behaving like you’ve done something unforgivable, you hand her the narrative.”
“The narrative?” Diana repeated.
Natalie ignored her.
“This can still be contained.
You were unhappy.
Your marriage had been distant for months.
Adults make complicated choices.”
Sebastian’s expression hardened.
Diana did not interrupt.
She understood that Natalie was doing more damage to herself than anyone else in the room could.
Natalie leaned closer to Sebastian.
“You told me she barely noticed you anymore.”
That sentence changed the room.
Sebastian’s head lifted.
Natalie realized too late what she had said.
Diana’s eyes narrowed.
Sebastian stared at Natalie.
“What did you just say?”
Natalie tried to retreat.
“I mean, you said things were difficult.”
“No.” His voice was quieter now.
“You said I told you she barely noticed me.”
Natalie looked toward Diana, then back at him.
“You were frustrated.”
Sebastian remembered those conversations.
Late dinners.
Complaints disguised as jokes.
The ease of speaking to someone who never asked him to be present for anything that mattered.
Natalie listened when he described pressure at work, the constant demands, the feeling that everyone wanted something from him.
And because Claire had stopped chasing him through the apartment asking when he would be home, Sebastian had allowed himself to describe her restraint as indifference.
It had made what he was doing easier to justify.
Diana turned over the page she had been holding.
It was not another photograph.
It was a simple timeline Claire had created herself.
Prenatal appointments.
Sebastian’s trips.
Hotel dates.
Nights he came home after midnight.
Family dinners he canceled.
Nothing embellished.
Nothing emotional.
Just events.
Sebastian read down the page.
He saw how often Claire had been alone.
He saw how many times she had asked for almost nothing and received even less.
He saw that the distance he had complained about had not appeared mysteriously between them.
He had built it.
One missed moment at a time.
Natalie stood.
“This is turning theatrical.”
Diana looked up at her.
“Sit down.”
