Autocorrect to Bambi

I was sautéing onions when Mark’s phone buzzed on the counter. He was in the shower, so I glanced at the screen—a grocery list he’d texted me. At the bottom, it read: “Thanks Bambi.” I frowned. Mark never called me Bambi. He sometimes called me babe, baby, sweetheart—never Bambi. I figured it was a typo, maybe autocorrect gone wild. He often complained about his phone changing words. I dismissed it and went back to stirring the onions.

But the word stuck. That evening, we were on the couch watching a documentary. I asked to borrow his phone to look up a recipe for Friday’s dinner. He handed it over without hesitation. I opened Safari and typed “b a b y” into the search bar. Before I could press enter, the display flickered: “Bambi.” It capitalized the B. My thumb hovered. I backspaced and typed “baby” again. Same result. Autocorrect had learned a new word. I looked at Mark, but he was engrossed in the show.

I went to his messages. Nothing unusual—work chat, a thread with his brother, our family group. I almost closed the phone, but something made me check the hidden apps. He had a second messaging app, one I’d never seen. It was cleverly tucked in a folder labeled “Utilities.” I opened it. The most recent conversation was with a contact named “Bambi.” The profile picture showed a young woman, maybe midtwenties, with a sharp jaw and dark hair. My fingers trembled as I scrolled. “Good morning, my little Bambi.” “Can’t wait to see you tonight, Bambi.” “You’re the only Bambi I’ll ever need.” There were dates and times that overlapped with his late meetings. I saw photos—her in lingerie, him with his arm around her at a restaurant I didn’t recognize. My stomach churned.

I heard the shower stop. I quickly closed the app, wiped my eyes, and pretended to look at recipes. When Mark came out, he asked if I found what I needed. I nodded, my voice cracking. He didn’t notice. That night, I lay beside him, staring at the ceiling, replaying every late work email, every weekend errand that took hours, every time he said “I love you” with a distant smile.

The next morning, I confronted him at the kitchen table as he read the news on his tablet. “Who is Bambi?” I asked. His face went pale. He stammered something about a nickname for a friend. I grabbed his phone from the charger, opened the hidden app, and held it up. “This Bambi?” He reached for the phone, but I pulled back. The silence stretched. Then he admitted it. A woman from work, six months, it meant nothing, he was sorry, he’d end it. I didn’t let him finish. I walked out of the kitchen, out of the house, into the cold morning air.

I spent the day at a coffee shop, sipping lukewarm tea and staring at nothing. I came back at dusk. The house was dark. Mark wasn’t there. I sat on the couch in the living room, the same couch where we’d watched documentaries, and I saw his phone still on the coffee table. I picked it up. The screen lit up with a message from Bambi: “Can we meet tonight? I miss you.” I felt a cold calm wash over me. I didn’t cry. I just set the phone down and watched the sunset through the window, knowing that something had ended, and I was still sitting in the wreckage, not yet ready to move.