I invited her in. That was the decision. I made her tea and asked her to sit at my kitchen table, and then I asked her one question, which was what Braxton had told her about the house. She said he had described it as his, bought before the marriage, and that I would be moving out to my sister’s in the spring because it had already been discussed. None of that had ever been discussed. The house was bought in 2011 by my father and held in a trust with my name on it, and Braxton has never owned so much as the shed.

Corinne is twenty-eight. She works in the billing department at his firm. She had been told I was aware, that we were separated in every way except paperwork, and that I had agreed. She had come to the door believing she was collecting something that had already been arranged, and when I showed her the trust documents she put her hands over her face and stayed like that for a long time.

Then I asked whether she wanted a solicitor’s number, and she said yes.

We did not become friends. I want to be accurate about that.