Gemotions

The small, leather-bound notebook was tucked away in the bottom drawer of the bedside table. Emily, organizing her husband’s things after he'd gone on a business trip, had found it. The handwriting was neat, meticulous, and unfamiliar. She'd known her husband for twenty years, and this was not his handwriting.

She flipped through the pages. The entries were cryptic, financial jargon she didn't understand, punctuated by dates and dollar amounts. She felt a lightness in her stomach. Her vision seemed to narrow, focusing only on the page.

She closed the notebook, slowly, deliberately. She felt a strange tingling in her fingers, a need to clutch something, anything. She wrapped her arms around herself, as if trying to hold herself together.