A trip to someone’s home can unlock entire worlds of knowledge that would otherwise remain a family secret. Case in point: There are like five books on making a marriage work after infidelity in the bathroom reading basket at your friend’s parents’ house.

Wow. What a bombshell reveal.

While it was guaranteed you’d learn at least something interesting about your friend’s family while staying at his childhood home for an upstate weekend, what you’ve uncovered in the guest bathroom is juicier than you could’ve imagined. Although your friend has never once mentioned any kind of tension between his parents, the dog-earned copies of “Steps To Healing: Forgiving Your Partner’s Missteps” and “Cheated On, Marriage Off” sitting beside the toilet tell a completely different story.

Whoa. It seems pretty likely that there was some major infidelity in your friend’s parents’ marriage, because it’s not like Trish and Peter would own a copy of “When Mr. Right Goes Mr. Wrong” for fun. Upon closer inspection, one of the books was even published in 2024, so this is definitely a recent thing they’re still dealing with—not something from like 2002 that’s fully blown over by now. Come to think of it, the vibe in the kitchen was kind of weird during breakfast this morning. Perhaps your friend’s parents need to take another look at “Saying Oops… And I’m Sorry.”

Damn. Definitely ask your friend about his parents while you guys hit up the town’s one brewery later today, and be sure to bring up the time you caught your college ex making out with another guy. You might just get the full story out of him.

Yeesh. If your marriage was going through a rough patch, you’d definitely hide the self-help books that got you through it before guests came over, but to each their own! In any case, this is a fascinating peek behind the curtain.