It’s 11:47 at night. The kids are finally down. You’re lying in bed not touching, not talking, both pretending to be asleep, both running the same number in your head. The one in the operating account. The one that has to cover payroll on Friday.
Neither of you says it out loud. You’ve learned that midnight isn’t the place. Saying it now just starts the fight you’ll both have to perform your way out of by 8am — standing in front of your team, smiling, like nothing in the world is wrong.
You used to be the two people who could get through anything together.
Now you’re the two people who can’t remember the last time you talked about anything but the business.