Days dragged as he waited. He started replaying every year of marriage, searching for cracks. Claire’s friends, her colleagues, the neighbor who once fixed their sink, any of them could be suspects in his mind. The certainty he once carried dissolved, leaving only questions that tasted bitter in his mouth.
Once the package arrived, Daniel hid it in the garage, behind toolboxes, like contraband. That evening, while Claire bathed Leo and Ethan practiced spelling words, he turned the test into a silly contest. “Who can keep the cotton swab in their cheeks the longest?”