MY WIFEIS MYBUSINESS

Nate is a photographer. The work dried up two years ago and never came back. He shoots children's birthday parties now, eighty dollars a job, and the mortgage is two months behind.

He has not told his wife how bad it is. She has never asked to see the numbers.

Riley spent her tax refund on a personal trainer. Marcus Hale, three sessions a week, at the house. By the second month she looks like she did at twenty-two, and people have started to notice.

Nate notices who is paying attention. Then he notices what they would pay.

The first photograph covers the month. So does the second. Every time, a little further than the last. He is always the one who asks. She always says yes, because it is him asking.

= He keeps a file. Every figure in it is accurate. That is the problem.