Have a good day, Daniel leaned in and brushed his lips against her cheek.
Charlotte nodded absently. Her cheek stayed cool and dryno warmth, no annoyance. Just skin, just a touch. The front door closed, and the flat was suddenly steeped in silence.
She stood in the hallway for another ten seconds, listening for some emotion inside herself. When had things changed? When had something inside her quietly clicked off? Charlotte remembered crying in the bathroom two years ago when Daniel forgot their anniversary. Last year, shed been shaking with anger when he hadnt collected Emily from nurseryagain. Six months ago, she was still making an effort to talk, explain, plead.
Nownothing. Clean and empty, like a scorched field.
She walked into the kitchen, poured herself a coffee, and sat down at the table. Twenty-nine years old. Seven of them married. And here she was, sitting in a quiet flat with a mug cooling in her hands, realising shed fallen out of love with her husband so quietly, so ordinarily, she hadnt even noticed it happen.
Daniel carried on in his usual routine. Hed promise to pick Emily up from nurserythen not turn up. Said hed mend the bathroom tapit was still leaking three months later. Swore theyd finally go to the zoo this weekendbut come Saturday there were emergency plans with friends, and on Sunday hed just sprawl on the sofa.
Emily had stopped asking when her dad would play with her. At five, the lesson stuck: Mummy is the safe one. Daddys the man who sometimes appears in the evenings to watch the telly.
Charlotte didnt start fights anymore. She didnt cry into her pillow or make elaborate plans to fix things. She simply cut Daniel out of the equation of her life.
Need to book the car in for MOT? She sorted it. The balcony lock broke? She called the locksmith. Emily needed a snowflake costume for the Christmas play? Charlotte was up sewing at night while Daniel snored in the next room.
The family had become this odd structure: two adults living side-by-side, but on parallel tracks under the same small roof.
One night, Daniel reached for her in bed. Charlotte carefully edged away, pleading a headache. Then tiredness. Then a list of vague ailments that didnt exist. Methodically, she built a wall between their bodies, brick by brick with each refusal.
Let him have someone on the side, she thought coldly. Let him give me a proper reasonone that makes sense to my parents and his mum. Something that doesnt need explaining.
How could she explain to her mum she was leaving her husband simply because he… was nothing special? He wasnt abusive, didnt drink, brought his wages home. So what if he was rubbish round the housemost blokes were. So what if he didnt fuss over Emilymen never really knew what to do with children.
Charlotte opened a separate bank account and started saving part of her wages. She signed up for the gymnot for Daniel, but for herself. For the new life waiting just over the horizon of their inevitable divorce.
In the evenings, when Emily drifted off to sleep, Charlotte put on her headphones and listened to podcasts in Englishbusiness English, conversation, emails for work. With her company taking on foreign clients, fluent language skills could open doors.
Professional courses took up two evenings a week. Daniel moaned about having to look after Emily, though look after meant turning on cartoons and scrolling on his phone.
At weekends, Charlotte spent her time with Emily: parks, playgrounds, cafés with strawberry milkshakes, trips to the cinema to see Disney films. Emily grew used to these outings as theirsher and Mummys time. Daddy hung somewhere on the edges, little more than background furniture.
She wont even notice, Charlotte reassured herself. When we separate, hardly anything will change for her.
It was a comforting thought, one she held onto like a life ring.
And then… something shifted.
Charlotte didnt notice it at first. One evening, Daniel offered to put Emily to bed. Then he volunteered to fetch her from nursery. Then he made dinnersimple pasta and cheese, but he did it, unprompted.
Charlotte eyed him warily. What was this? Guilt pangs? A momentary lapse? Covering up for something she didnt yet know about?
But the change didnt fade. Daniel began getting up earlier to take Emily to nursery. He fixed that endless bathroom leak. Signed Emily up for swimming and drove her to lessons on Saturdays.
Dad, looknow I can dive! Emily dashed through the flat, pretending to swim.
Daniel caught her up and swung her towards the ceiling. Emily burst into delighted giggles.
Charlotte watched from the kitchen doorway, barely recognising her own husband.
Ill look after her Sunday, Daniel said one night. Youve got your friends meeting, havent you?
Charlotte nodded slowly. There was no meetingshe just craved alone time at a coffee shop with a good book. Since when did he pay attention to her conversationsor care?
Weeks slid into a month. Then two. Daniel didnt slip back or lose interest.
Ive booked us a table at that Italian restaurant, he told her. Friday night. Mumll have Emily.
Charlotte glanced up from her laptop.
Whats the occasion?
No occasion. I just want to have dinner with you.
She agreedout of curiosity, she told herself. Just to see what this was about.
The place was cosy, all low lighting and live music. Daniel ordered her favourite wineCharlotte was startled that he remembered.
Youve changed, she said, matter-of-factly.
Daniel turned his glass slowly in his hands.
I was blind. The full, classic, incomprehensible idiot.
Tell me something I dont know.
I mean it. His smile was crookedalmost sad. I thought work was for the family. That you needed me to bring home the bacon, a bigger flat, a flashier car. Really, I was… running away. Escaping responsibility, boring real life, the lot.
Charlotte let him speak, quiet.
I noticed youd changed. That suddenly you didnt care. And that… that was scarier than any row. You used to shout, cry, accuseand that felt normal. Then you just stopped. As though I didnt exist at all.
He put his glass down.
I nearly lost you. You and Em. Only then did I realise I was doing it all wrong.
Charlotte studied him for a long time. This mansitting on the other side of the tablewas saying things she had waited years to hear. Was it too late? Or not?
I was getting ready to divorce you, she said quietly. I waited for you to give me a reason.
Daniel went pale.
God, Charlie
I saved up. Viewed some flats.
I had no idea it was that bad
You should have, she interrupted. This is your family. You should have seen what was going on.
Silence settled between them, thick and close. The waiter, sensing the mood, steered well clear of their table.
Im willing to work at this, Daniel said finally. At us. If youll give me a chance.
One chance.
Thats already more than I deserve.
They sat there until closing, talking properlyabout Emily, about money, housework, what each expected of the other. For the first time in years, it felt like a real conversation, not a string of complaints or polite exchanges.
Putting things back together was slow. Charlotte didnt fling herself into his arms the next morning. She watched, waited for cracks to show. But Daniel stayed the course.
He took charge of cooking at weekends. Became the resident of the parents WhatsApp group for nursery. Learned how to plait Emilys hairwonky and uneven, but his effort.
Mum, look, Daddy made a dragon! Emily burst into the kitchen, clutching a creature made of boxes and coloured paper.
Charlotte stared at the absurd, lopsided dragonone wing bigger than the otherand smiled
Six months slipped past quietly.
Its December now; the three of them make a trip to Charlottes parents country cottage. The old house smells of timber and baking, the garden is frosted with snow, and the porch creaks with every footstep.
Charlotte sits by the window with a mug of tea, watching Daniel and Emily building a snowman. Emily issues ordersnose there, eyes up, scarfs all wonky!and Daniel dutifully follows, grabbing her and swinging her round until shes shrieking with laughter.
Mum! Come on, come help! Emily beckons with both hands.
Charlotte pulls on a coat and steps outside. The snow glitters in the low afternoon sun, nipping at her cheeks, just as a snowball lands on her side.
It was Dad! Emily betrays him gleefully.
Traitor, Daniel laughs.
Charlotte scoops a handful of snow and flings it at her husband. Misses. He laughs harder, she laughs tooand the next moment all three are tumbling through the drifts, forgetting the snowman, the cold, forgetting the world.
That evening, when Emily falls asleep on the sofa before her film is over, Daniel gently carries her to bed. Charlotte watches him tuck in their daughter, smooth her hair from her forehead.
She sits by the fire, hands wrapped round a steaming mug. Outside, the snow keeps falling, patching the countryside in white.
Daniel sits beside her.
What are you thinking about?
How grateful I am, that I didnt go through with it.
He doesnt ask, go through with what. He knows.
A marriage demands work every day. Not acts of heroism, but small, ordinary things: listening, helping, noticing, standing by. Charlotte knows there will still be hard days, confusion, and rows over nothing.
But right now, her husband and daughter are beside her. Alive. Real. Loved.
Emily stirs and crawls into the chair between them, snuggling in. Daniel wraps his arms around them both. Charlotte thinks: some things really are worth fighting for.
