She took a breath.
“I think we should at least be open-minded.”
That answer hurt more than I expected.
I wasn’t asking whether she was open-minded.
I was asking whether she understood what this proposal meant for our friendship.
For the first time in twelve years, I wondered whether I knew Nancy as well as I thought I did.
“Let me ask you something,” I said. “If Alex had suggested exchanging wives with another couple, would you have agreed?”
“I don’t know.”
“Would you have told me if that other woman were me?”
She didn’t answer.
I ended the call a few minutes later.
For the rest of the morning, I moved through the house mechanically. I made coffee, answered emails, and folded laundry.
Everything looked normal.
But something had shifted.
The proposal was no longer just an uncomfortable conversation with my husband.
It was a conversation that had apparently been happening behind my back.
