My wife told me she was going to become a surrogate for $70,000 so we could finally afford a house P4

Daniel said something too low for me to catch.

Then Renee answered, “Next week we’ll finally move in.”

I never heard the rest.

My knees buckled, and I slid down the siding until I was sitting in the flower bed, mulch damp beneath my palms.

Move in?

Daniel had keys to every renovation property we worked on. My mind didn’t wonder which house Renee meant.

By the time I climbed back into my truck, the worst answer had already settled inside me.

I never went in.

***

Back at work hours later, Daniel looked up from the open wall where he was measuring pipe.

“Everything okay?”

I forced myself to nod. “Yeah.”

He smiled and handed me a fitting.

Nothing about him looked guilty.

That made it worse.

For the rest of the afternoon, I barely spoke. Every memory from the past seven months rearranged itself. The appointments. The whispered calls Renee took outside. The evenings she came home smelling faintly of paint, which I’d blamed on a clinic renovation she mentioned once.

Now every detail looked like evidence.

When I got home, Eli ran to me wearing one of my old baseball caps backward.

“Daddy, look! I’m you.”

I picked him up and held him so tightly he squirmed.

Renee appeared in the kitchen doorway, wiping her hands on a towel.

“Dinner’s ready.”

She looked exactly like the woman I’d loved for six years.

For one dangerous moment, I almost believed I’d imagined everything.

Then I heard her voice again.

Every single word with Daniel.

***

Dinner was painfully ordinary. Eli told us green beans made him “strong like Daddy.” Renee laughed and kissed the top of his head. I smiled when I had to, but every ordinary thing felt staged now.

After Eli fell asleep, Renee sat beside me on the couch with two mugs of tea.

“You’ve been quiet.”

“Long day.”

She studied me. “Work?”

I almost asked her who was moving in next week.

Instead, I took the mug and said, “Thanks.”

She looked relieved.

That relief broke something in me.

***

Before sunrise, while she took Eli to daycare, I packed a duffel bag and left my wedding ring on the dresser.

By noon, I was at my brother Mason’s house.

Renee called before I’d even unpacked.

Then again.

Then again.

By nightfall, my phone held 11 missed calls and seven texts.

Calvin, please answer.

You’re scaring me.

I don’t understand.

Please come home.

I read every message and answered none.