On Monday evening, Alistair arrived home with signs of travel and a fresh haircut, which immediately triggered Martha’s irritation about his unexplained three-day absence. Martha greeted Alistair with icy restraint, questioning his priorities and his choice to get his hair cut at the hotel while she was left uninformed and overwhelmed at home.

Alistair responded with repeated apologies and a soft tone, explaining that the hotel had a good salon and that he had not wanted to add to Martha’s workload by asking her to cut his hair. His gentleness blunted Martha’s anger, but she expressed feeling powerless and controlled by his unpredictability and lack of notice.

Alistair grew tearful and blamed his disorganization on ADHD and the pressures of his job. Martha silently resented the ADHD explanation, recalling that he used it to justify frequent lapses, but she restrained herself from voicing harsher truths to avoid seeming cruel.

Martha had deliberately dressed attractively—cashmere sweater, skinny jeans, hair up, jewelry, and perfume—wrestling with the competing impulses to punish him or to rekindle closeness. When she asked about work, Alistair described a difficult assignment at a fine-dining brasserie in Glasgow staffed by inexperienced teenagers, then said he missed her deeply.

Martha noted that her calls went to voicemail; Alistair admitted he kept his phone on silent due to intensity at work. He added that he had messaged an Airbnb in Normandy to obtain a credit after a canceled plan, which stung Martha since he had time for that but not to contact her.

Despite lingering frustration, Martha deferred further conflict, and when Alistair opened his arms, she accepted the embrace. She felt relieved he was home and still loving, yet mourned the erosion of her former self under the strain of his absences and her growing resentment.