The closer we got to home, the harder the questions got. But I held on to why. I thought I knew the answer to this one: he had simply met someone better. In truth, I think I had always felt a tad inferior to Sam. The lack of my why made this clear. Besides, the other questions were more fact- based, whereas why tiptoed into an emotional realm I wasn’t quite ready for. It required more personal excavation. I could be roped into the why. The interrogation lamp would turn to shine on our marriage and its failures in his eyes. I didn’t want to see what came to light."
-- Narration (N/A)

Importance: In this passage the narrator frames “why” as a narrative she resists telling herself, one that threatens to rewrite the story she has relied on to make sense of the marriage’s end. By clinging to a simpler...