My wife is paralyzed, so I haven’t been inti:mate with her for four months. Out of deep frustration, I left her alone for ten days to go on a date with the younger sister of my colleague. And then… the unexpected happened.

sleep. I couldn’t just sit in a chair and pretend like everything was fine. There was no pretending now, not when I knew how deeply I had hurt her, how I had allowed the distance between us to grow into something irreversible.

I spent the night pacing the guest room, the bed empty beside me. I wanted to go to her, to say something, to apologize, but continue reading …