Eric stood up and walked across the room to the window. He stopped there and looked out at the yard. His back was to her as he started to speak. “Beth is a family law attorney. One of the guys at work gave me her name.”
She could barely hear him, but decided not to interrupt. Something told her to be still and wait. The only sound was the neighbor’s dog barking, filling the awkward silence with a much needed distraction.
“I started to realize it while you were pregnant. All that mattered to you was the baby; I became less and less important to you. Now all we do is fight; I can never do anything to please you. I can’t do this anymore, Annie. I want a divorce.”
The floor seemed to shift under her feet and Annie reached down for the arm of the sofa to keep from falling. Suddenly she felt as though she was being pulled underwater by a violent, relentless current of disbelief and fear. She lowered herself down onto the sofa.
“A divorce?” The words left a bitter taste on her tongue.
He stood there like a statue, hands shoved in his pockets, his mouth a hard line.
“But I love you, Eric. We can work this out. We haven’t even tried. This has been an awful few weeks. Maybe Dr. Hayes knows a counselor who can help us.” Annie was desperate for him to listen to reason.
He shook his head. “No. No counseling. Let’s just cut our losses and be done, Annie. It’s pointless to keep up the act.”
“What act? What do you mean?” Tears were now running down her face. “Doesn’t our marriage mean anything to you?”
“I always wanted it to, I really did, but it’s just not working.” He sounded like a stranger. “It’s never going to work. It’s just too hard.”
“I can’t believe you’re willing to just throw it all away.” The words were getting caught in her throat, constricted by the torrent of emotions.
“Well, believe it.”
“Is there someone else? That Kelly from work?” There had to be more to this than he was telling her. “Eric, are you having an affair?”
“No, there’s no one else. You’re so paranoid. Kelly has nothing to do with this. I just want life back the way it used to be.” He looked away from her as he spoke.
He left her sitting there and went into the bedroom to pack a bag. When he came back out, she was still on the sofa, tears still running down her face.
“I’ll call you,” he murmured and then walked out the door, letting it slam behind him.
In the days that followed she couldn’t remember what she’d been looking at when he left, if anything at all. The entire incident remained a blur, except for the words: ‘I want a divorce.’ It made her sick to think of it, but she kept repeating the phrase in her head over and over again. Each time she repeated it, it still sounded so foreign and unreal. How could Eric want a divorce? Had he really been that unhappy? How could this be happening to her? First her baby died and now her marriage was dying. Although according to her husband, it was already dead, and he wanted it to stay that way.
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