My husband returned from a three-day fishing trip with a wedding ring mark on his finger — he hasn’t worn a ring in 12 years. My husband had taken the same fishing trip with his friends every summer for years. Three days at a lake. Bad cell service. Cheap motel. Nothing unusual. But when Mark came home Sunday night, something felt different. He hugged me quickly, carried his bag upstairs, and barely talked through dinner. Then he reached for his glass. That’s when I saw it. A pale band around his left ring finger. A perfect wedding ring mark. Mark hadn’t worn his wedding ring in twelve years. After breaking that finger at work, the ring became uncomfortable, so he’d kept it in our bedroom drawer ever since. “What’s that?” He followed my eyes. For a second, he froze.

I finally understood the pale mark.

It wasn’t from three days of fishing.

It was a tan line.

Mark had been wearing a ring whenever he was with Claire.

“Why didn’t you get legally married?”

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