The silence in the house was a physical thing, thick and suffocating. It was broken only by the rhythmic click-clack of Landon’s keyboard from the home office. My husband. The man who was supposedly my partner in all things, yet here I was, alone in our king-sized bed, feeling a familiar ache deep in my belly. An ache he hadn't touched, or even seemed to notice, in weeks.

My hand slid down from my stomach, over the silk of my nightgown, and between my legs. It was a lazy, frustrated touch at first. I squeezed my thighs together, trying to imagine it was him, that he’d finally closed his laptop...