I came home excited to plan my wife Rachel’s birthday gift with our daughter, Lily, when she leaned close and whispered, “Dad, I know exactly what Mom likes.” I smiled and told her to go on
My phone buzzed again before I reached the intersection. “Where are you?” I stared at Rachel’s message until the traffic light turned green. There was nothing unusual about the words themselves. What bothered me was the timing. I had told her I was going to the store twenty minutes earlier, and normally she wouldn’t have cared whether I was standing in a grocery aisle, sitting in traffic, or wandering around a hardware store looking for something I didn’t need. I typed, “Almost done. Why?” Three dots appeared immediately. Then disappeared. Then appeared again. “Just wondering.” I didn’t answer. Instead, I glanced at the security feed mounted on my dashboard. Mason was still in the kitchen. Rachel stood across from him with both hands resting on the island, and the small white envelope sat between them. Neither of them touched it. They were talking, but the camera was positioned too far away to pick up every word clearly. I increased the volume anyway. Static. The hum of the refri...