At first, I thought the early wake-ups were innocent accidents. But when I found out why my husband was doing it, the silence between us became deafening.
If you asked me a year ago, I would’ve said my husband was one of the good ones.
We’d been married for four years. He made coffee every morning. Kissed me on the forehead before heading to work. Rubbed my back when I had headaches. When our daughter, Isla, was born, he cried harder than I did. I remember thinking — This. This is what partnership should feel like.
I don’t know when that started to change. Or maybe I just didn’t want to see it.
It started subtly, with little things. A light left on at 4:30 in the morning. The slam of a drawer. A whispered, “Hey, do you know where my gym towel is?” like it couldn’t wait.
“Sorry, babe,” he said the first time. “Didn’t mean to wake you.”
The second time? “My keys were under your pillow somehow.”
By the fifth time, it didn’t feel like an accident.
I’d be jolted awake by the sound of him cursing under his breath because his protein shaker lid was missing, or because the door didn’t click shut the right way. Then he’d stand beside the bed and whisper, “Can you just lock the door behind me? I left my keys at work again.”
Again.
I tried not to overthink it. I told myself I was just tired — because I was. I’m still on maternity leave with Isla, and I have two older kids from my first marriage who seem to take turns getting sick every other week. Between school runs, medicine schedules, and Isla’s teething, sleep had become a foreign concept.
What happened next changed everything… FULL STORY on the next page.
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