Jealousy can reveal desire without proving betrayal.

The sting of jealousy tells you something matters to you, that you want this person’s attention or this kind of life more than you had admitted. That information is worth having. What jealousy cannot do is establish facts. It has no access to what anyone actually did, and it will construct evidence with enormous confidence when none exists.

When jealousy arrives, take the first part seriously and hold the second lightly. Ask what it revealed about what you want, and then ask separately whether you have any actual reason for concern. If you do, raise it plainly. If you do not, the feeling is still real and still yours to sit with without turning it into an accusation.