Singapore.
Three years.
Career path.
Petra stopped cutting tomatoes halfway through.
“Singapore?”
“Yes.”
“As in Singapore, Singapore?”
“There is only one major Singapore.”
“You know what I mean.”
I smiled.
She didn’t.
“Oh.”
The excitement left the room.
I continued explaining because I thought more information would make the opportunity easier to process.
Petra listened.
Finally, she asked, “Do you want it?”
“I think so.”
Her face changed.
“You think so?”
“It’s huge.”
“For you.”
That phrase mattered later.
At the time, I barely noticed it.
“Yes. For me.”
“My work is here.”
“I know.”
“My clients are here.”
“I know.”
“My entire network.”
“I know.”
“And you’re talking about moving twelve time zones away.”
“Fifteen or sixteen hours depending on daylight savings, but yes.”
“Eli.”
“Sorry.”
She paced toward the window.
“I can’t move to Singapore.”
I had expected concern.
Not certainty.
“You haven’t thought about it.”
“I don’t need to.”
“Not even one night?”
“My career doesn’t transfer like yours.”
“That’s not necessarily true.”
“You don’t know my industry.”
“Hale & Strand does international work.”
“Not with me.”
“We could ask.”
Petra crossed her arms.
“Is that what you want? For me to quit?”
“No.”
“You said move.”
“I said consider.”
She turned away.
For almost an hour, we talked.
Then argued.
Then became tired enough to talk again.
By bedtime, Petra’s position was clear.
Seattle was our life.
Her career.
Our house.
Friends.
Family nearby.
She did not want to uproot everything for what she called “a three-year professional experiment.”
I slept badly.
The next morning, I called Ford.
“I’m passing.”
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
“Because of Petra?”
“Because of us.”
Ford was quiet.
Then said, “Family comes first.”
“Exactly.”
“The door may not close forever.”
“I appreciate that.”
I hung up.
For three days, Petra was affectionate in a way she had not been for months.
She thanked me.
Said she knew the decision was difficult.
Said we should plan a trip somewhere that year.
I believed we had chosen our marriage.
I believed sacrifice had clarified our priorities.
Within two weeks, she was back at Damon’s every Saturday.
That was the moment resentment began.
Quietly.
I did not tell her.
That was my mistake.
At first, I considered mentioning Singapore every time she left.
I stopped myself because I did not want to weaponize my decision.
I told myself that if I had chosen freely, I could not use the sacrifice as leverage.
That was intellectually correct.
Emotionally, it became poison.
Every Saturday I spent alone in the townhouse carried a faint invisible number.
Salary.
Title.
Opportunity.