I found her lipstick on his collar, so I bought a hidden camera

The last normal Tuesday of my marriage was unremarkable. Cheerios on the counter. Traffic on Highway 75. I work as a dental hygienist in Plano, Texas. I have been married to Garrett for fourteen years. I thought we were happy. I really did. I am forty-four years old and I drive a Dodge Caravan with a sliding door that squeaks every time my kids get in. That is my life. It was a good life until I did the laundry.

Garrett came home from work and tossed his white Van Heusen shirt in the hamper. I picked it up the next morning. There was a red stain on the collar. Not wine. Not pasta sauce. It was lipstick. I know the exact shade. It was Mac Ruby Woo. I know that because I bought that exact lipstick for my best friend Renata for her birthday two months ago. Renata and I have been friends for fifteen years. Our husbands played golf together. Her husband David was a good man. I stood in my laundry room holding that shirt. I didn’t cry. My hands did not shake. I just got quiet. I said the house was quiet. I need to correct that. It wasn’t quiet. The dryer was humming in the background but my head was entirely silent.

I put the shirt back in the hamper. I got in my car. I drove straight to Best Buy and spent $145 on a Wyze nanny camera. I brought it home. I placed it on the bookshelf in the living room. I tucked it right inside the fake potted fern I bought at Target years ago. You could not see the lens unless you knew exactly where to look. I pointed it straight at our sectional couch.

I waited. It was twelve days of waiting. I washed his clothes. I made dinner. I sat next to him on the couch he was going to ruin. Honestly, I do not know how I survived those twelve days. I poured him a cup of Folgers coffee every morning. I smiled at him. I was waiting for the trap to snap shut.

It happened on a Thursday. I was at the dental clinic. I checked the camera app on my phone between patients. There it was. A live feed of my living room. Garrett and Renata. On my couch in the middle of the afternoon. A commercial for Dawn dish soap was playing on the television in the background. They did not even mute the TV. I watched six minutes of footage. I saved it. I backed it up to two flash drives.

I went home that night. I made chicken and rice. Garrett came downstairs and he goes, How was your day. I looked at him. I told him my day was fine. I waited until the next morning. Garrett went to the office. Renata went to her pilates class. I assume David was at work.

I created a group chat. Just the four of us. Me, Garrett, Renata, and David. I uploaded the six-minute video. I did not add a long paragraph. I did not ask any questions. I hit send. Then I packed my bags in our bedroom.

Garrett called me three minutes later. I answered. He was panicking. His exact words were: Maureen, please do not do this. I did not yell. I just listened to him breathe. I hung up the phone. I am gonna tell you what Renata texted me but first I need to tell you about the house. He came home twenty minutes later. He walked through the front door. He looked terrified. He told me he was so sorry. He said it was a mistake.

I looked him dead in the eye and said, “Get off my couch.”

Then I walked out the front door and got in my Caravan. David filed for divorce the very next week. I filed for mine the day after. Our friend group has completely fallen apart. Honestly, part of me is glad. You think you know people, you know?

I have an apartment now. The kids are angry but they will understand when they are older. I went back to the house yesterday to grab some winter coats. The Wyze camera is still sitting inside that fake fern. Garrett has no idea it is even there. I keep thinking about the television. Not the video. I keep thinking about that Dawn dish soap commercial. I don’t know why.